The Sun is so Nice...

especially after someone has made you take a bath.

If I just had a pillow, this nap would be complete.

Road Trip Down Memory Highway

I haven't posted in awhile. This is not because I haven't wanted to nor that I haven't had material. I've been to Las Vegas and San Francisco, logging at least 1400 miles in the past week, and I've been trying to put together a solid schedule and budget for our new movie. So I've been a little busy. And I continue to be busy, and so I am not using this post to show you pictures of Thanksgiving, though they are fun. You'll have to wait for those.

Instead, for this post I am stealing the work of our friend Kevin Obsatz, who just posted an interview of Bryan and I on his website. Check it out...

HOCKEY MOVIE

In May he came to LA and interviewed a bunch of us kids who went to film school with him. The idea is that he's going to periodically interview us about what's going on and thus create a sort of film school version of the 7UP series.

As you will see in this video, apparently I talk a lot. My memory of the interview was not that I took over, though it's not beyond the realm of reasonable belief that I did.

Enjoy our story of how not to shoot a movie in Canada.

The Life and Times of a Spoiled Dog

I was sick all last week so I have little to report which is why I'm devoting this post to Mel. Lately Mel's taken to trying to make friends with the Chihuahuas next door. There are at least six of them. They aren't buying her bids for friendship. Mostly they just get freaked out when they see her and bark a lot. Every day this week she's tried again. Her refusal to give up is impressive. Maybe with enough time she'll win their favor just like the Democratic Party did last week. I can only hope for her.

I want to hold your ha-a-a-and....

For a long time Mel was afraid of the stuffed octopus we'd bought for her before we picked her up at the vet's office. Recently she got over this fear and has spent a significant amount of time playing with it. She's scared of squeaky toys, though, and so every time she'd cause it to squeak, she'd then have to run away from it and then attack it. When she realized she could bring it to me and I'd hang onto a leg and we could use it for tug-o-war it was really only a matter of time until all the legs were pulled off. I helped with the first. She did the rest by herself.

The aftermath
(that's the squeaker on the right)

Now I feel guilty for helping her destroy the toy she's come to love.

Who me?

Maybe the Path Wasn't Built That Well Afterall

I guess I should have piled more soil on the side of the brick path. The Halloween party did a number on it. That will be the next chore in the garden - fix the path, again.

Remember when I said that the freesias were beginning to bloom. I lied. They're actually paper whites. But they are in bloom. And how.

The Happiest Place on Earth

Yesterday, Bryan and I work up around 7:30 and decided to be spontaneous. He's been having a craving for Disneyland for the past few months and his repeated enteritis that we visit finally got into my head as well. We dropped Mel off at Wagville (also known as Puppy Disneyland) and headed to the Magical Kingdom.

Goofy may have been too busy for a photo op, but Tigger was ready

Though neither of us had been for a good 10 years, we didn't buy into this whole California Adventure Land nonsense. We wanted traditional Disneyland, and for the most part that's what we got. We were happy to see Star Tours has not been updated, but approved thoroughly of the new Space Mountain.

And I was finally ready to appreciate this ride instead of mock it

Sadly, It's a Small World and the Matterhorn were both closed for seasonal maintenance.

As per usual, most of the pictures we took were of us being sad at life's little disappointments.

Here's a breakdown of what I thought of the "new" Disneyland:

1. The addition of animatronic Johnny Depp to Pirates is completely unnecessary, and the change in music in the Pirate village scene makes the ride less fun.

2. I don't understand the Haunted Mansion as Nightmare Before Christmas, but I think I like it. Does it go back to be regularly haunted during other parts of the year?

3. Splash Mountain is still awesome, especially if there is a big guy in front of you to absorb most of the splash.

4. A weekday in November is the perfect time to go to Disneyland to avoid crowds - the longest we waited was 20min for Indiana Jones.

5. Indiana Jones is lame (the ride, not the franchise).

6. I don't understand the moral behind Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Why do we end up in hell after being sentenced for riding too wildly? Are we to assume that Mr. Toad gets killed, because I don't remember that in Wind in the Willows.

7. Most of the rides are surprisingly scary. A little girl riding behind us on Snow White told her mother she didn't want to go on any more of these scary rides, and I had to agree that Snow White ends on an unnecessarily scary note.

8. The Swiss Family Robinson Tree House is better as the Tarzan Treehouse.

9. DON'T BE TRICKED by Innoventions. It's a live infomercial for HP products. Don't be sucked in by it's appealing spinning room!

10. Honey I Shrunk the Audience was way better as Captain Eo (so says Bry, I wouldn't know having missed the Michael Jackson hit entirely in my youth)

11. Big Thunder Mountain is the perfect roller coaster.

12. Though the park may stay open until midnight, one really only needs about 6 hours at Disneyland to get your fix.

T-I-double g-er

Overall, a surprisingly fun time, but as I said this morning, if someone were to tell me I could get into Disneyland today for free, I'd probably pass.