there is way too much energy in this household right now.
Diane's the inspiration for this party.
That's me, the party animal.
Bonus points: where does that joke come from?
(Don't send me your answers. This is just a little way to expand your horizons. Honest.)
Darin and I went to see The Iron Giant today. I had to admit, if it hadn't been for the glowing reviews and word of mouth, I probably wouldn't have gone to see it; the movie didn't seem very interesting in the trailers and commercials.
It's a really good movie. The trailers and commercials just suck.
The Iron Giant is the story of a boy, Hogarth, and his 100-foot-tall iron robot. The government shows up, there are misunderstandings, Harry Connick Jr. plays the beatnik. I got all weepy at the end. The kids around us really seemed to enjoy it a lot, except for one tot who appeared to be crying pretty hard (and is clearly not yet hip to the ways of Hollywood films).
This is a really sweet movie about individuality and fear and why people react badly to things they don't understand. The animation is strange, although I can't exactly put my finger on why. And the characters (except for the government agent, whose xenophobia is not really explained in the context of Sputnik hysteria) are pretty good.
I know: there'll be kids. Go see it anyhow.
Darin is in a weird manic phase. His sleep schedule is all mixed-up, he's edgy (not like "we need this film to be edgy" kind of edgy, but a "I have too much restless energy" kind), he's got a ton of projects going on in his business and a ton being offered to him (which is actually less fun than you might imagine, although I guess it's better than the opposite).
Yesterday he bought a new sound system for our living room audio-video setup. (Another sign: he's buying things.) And he decided to set it up last night, after he finished working.
At midnight.
So he started at midnight by taking apart the TV-electronic playback media combo, moving the television, putting the whole thing back together again, and then setting up the amplifier, stereo, and five speakers of the new sound system. It only took two hours, by the end of which I (who had had a four-hour nap earlier in the day) was completely tired and not that interested in watching Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, which was the test DVD of choice.
I went to bed and took a while to fall asleep, which I finally did. Darin came to bed at 4. I woke up again at 5 from one of the worst nightmares I've had in quite a while. We then both slept until 11.
I'm hoping we can both get on a regular schedule tonight, but as it's 10pm and Darin is just coming home from helping Al move to his new apartment, I'm not sure if we will.
So, a friend of mine decided to move out of Los Angeles and move to Seattle. Seeing as how she's a working screenwriter, this came as a surprise, but she works a lot, so she can do it.
I kept after her to have a going-away party until it finally came down to literally the last day: she takes off on her Great Driving Adventure to the Great White North (or the American version thereof) with two dogs and a cat.
She wanted to have the party at a place where she could smoke (which pretty much ruled out people's houses), so she called around and settled on the patio at the Argyle Hotel, in West Hollywood. And tonight a bunch of us descended on the Argyle for a few hours of drinking and joking and swapping industry stories and asking where Max got that outfit she was wearing.
(The outfit was, for those of you who are interested--and there are quite a few, evidently--a black gauze thing in three parts: a tank top type blouse, a floor-length black skirt (which kind of scared me, given the four-inch heels she was wearing), and a grey middy that spanned about four inches between the blouse and the skirt. The middy kind of looked like a scarf wrapped around her stomach, but it was part of the outfit -- attached to the blouse, but that wasn't obvious.)
What surprised me was that she told everybody (even without prompting) that I was responsible for this party, because I kept telling her, We have to have a going-away party. Well, you know, just so long as I get the credit, I guess. I should have networked more ("What's your name? What do you do? Who are you, in case you're important and can help me?") but I just liked hanging out and joking around with people. One guy turned out to be my friend's manager, but I never did get his last name. Oh well.
I got full noshing on the extraordinarily spicy peanut mix. We all agreed the mix was the Argyle's secret tool to up drink orders.
The Argyle is a totally cool hotel, by the way. It's all Art Deco, both inside and out. The patio had cement palm trees framing the gorgeous view of the LA Basin, and then real palm trees framing the cement ones. The outside has all of those Art Deco flourishes found on mirrors and the like, with black and white trim in the windows. Pictures of stars from the 30s and 40s (who might have stayed there, because they slept everywhere) line the hallways. I would have no reason to go to a hotel like the Argyle, so I'm glad Max suggested it.
The answer to Thursday's question: Willie Brown is the Mayor of San Francisco and former Speaker of the California Assembly for Life, until term limits did him in. He's evidently horribly corrupt and not getting anything done, but no one knows of a candidate who can beat him. In San Francisco? Geez.
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Copyright 1999 Diane Patterson
Send comments and questions to diane@spies.com