chase the light

Hopped a flight to Boise, Idaho this morning to see my sister. It’s more northerly then San Francisco and since my North American travel ceases to exist much farther north of that (besides Seattle), Boise has never really been on my radar. Idaho really does exist! I saw it on the maps and stuff but I’ll be damned, people really do live there. 1.3 million to be not so exact. That’s all? I have that many people in my neighborhood.

Unbelievably, LAX was packed at 6:00 in the morning, Christmas Day. Who the hell travels Christmas Day?! A lot. If I had to check baggage I wouldn’t have made my flight. Flew through Salt Lake, where it was starting to snow, and then on to Boise and arrived about 11:20. I fell asleep about 10 minutes before landing and nearly shot through the roof when the plane landed with a thud. Scared me to death. The one time I manage to fall asleep on a plane that happens. You know you’re on a small plane when it has windshield wipers. [VIDEO LINK]
My sister’s kids took up most of my time while there. They come in the form of a Siberian Husky and an Alaskan Malamute. All 270lbs of them. Wolf is funny in that he winks. It’s definitely a Stupid Pet Trick. Click on him to get an idea.

I thought I’d go out for a drive tonight to see if I could discover some Christmas Eve oddness. There just has to be something weird going on tonight. Only took me about 15 minutes. After my bizarre run in with Sci-entol-ogists at Leicester Square in London I just had to get a closer look at the Winter Wonderland thing on Hollywood Blvd. Is this an attempt to be portrayed as user friendly religion [LINK]? That’s not the weird thing. It was 10pm and there was a full volunteer construction crew out there on scaffolds and no lights working away like it was a regular work day. I wonder if Sci-entol-ogy Santa is Clear or has failed miserably on the Elect-ropsycho-meter [LINK]. Anyway, L. Ron says Merry Christmas everybody!

MAG TIME DEPTH & LOCATION
6.5 11:15am 7.6k 7 mi NE of San Simeon, CA
An “I feel dizzy” earthquake hit today. I’ve grown to love the occasional excitement from an earthquake. Felt in San Francisco and all the way down to L.A. They’re about equidistant from the epicenter, so it makes sense. Still nothing like the ’89 San Francisco earthquake that I had to squat down to the ground. Ok, yeah, that one was a bit to much earthquake. It’s so easy today to just open a web browser and get seismic information [LINK] in a matter of seconds. Back in the day I remember running to the TV to wait for news from Cal Tech and “that earthquake lady” Kate Hutton [LINK]. I think she was probably the first woman I recognized as being a lesbian. No one ever mentioned that of course.

Unbelievable sunset tonight. On the way down to a holiday party I had to pull over to check this out. My one camera battery that I was carrying died. So much for photos of the party. Dammit there better be Egg Nog. That stuff is devilish it’s so good. All the usual suspects are expected at the Eichert household.

Clocking in at a hefty 3.5 hours. It’s either a marathon session of holding back pee, or not drinking and having cotton mouth. In Titanic, there’s a nice lull after after the sex scene in the car. That’s a good bathroom break time for that film. I was determined to sit this one through. No water, no soda’s for 3 hours prior to the film, but I would take in a 20oz. bottle to sip on. That would hopefully be enough to last me, but not fill me. I must make it.

I didn’t make it. And there you have it, the trilogy is complete. Kinda liked it. I still like “Two Towers” better. This one needs a lot of editing as it’s very clunky. The effects inside Mt. Doom are what ruined the ending for me. Gollum looked rediculous, and I found myself kinda laughing. The big climax of an 11 hour epic and I’m snickering? Uh oh. The rest was great, but what a bummer. Although there’ll be no touching it for winning the award this year. An Oscar Three-peat for effects. Horhay [LINK] sent me an image that some artists’ parent took of the screen of his daughter’s credit. It also contained his credit. Makin’ parents proud, and happy that the college tuition investment worked out.

Today at work my supervisor came by my office to give me a little box and said Happy Holidays from Bob. As in Bob Z?? Cool. I doubt I’ll ever meet him and wonder if he personally chose these gifts, but still. I’m not sure if he [LINK] actually goes by Bob Z., or if they just call him that to differentiate him from some other Bob. Anyway, he sent gifts to the whole crew which I thought was nice. Most of the time you never even hear from the director, but on animated projects you tend to work more closely with them. It’s all fun and stuff working on a Holiday film right now as it’s perfect to get in the mood. Come Spring and Summer it ain’t gonna be so cool. Then it should come back full circle once we get close to the release date next year. What was the gift? A silvery mirror frame with the Polar Express teaser [LINK] image in it. Bob Z. gave us frames!

All this week I was planning on going to this big behemoth party on the lot. Suddenly I got in the hot seat at work, so I did the good worker bee thing and decided to stick it out to make someone look good tomorrow. Even though I really wanted to go pawty. Round about 5:00 everyone left me behind like bad soldiers, so F ’em, I’m going too. Screw making someone look good.

Damn, it’s things like these that make me realize this is one big ass company . They put a carousel smack dab in the middle of stage 16, carnival games, gambling, alcohol, and lots of ginger bread men. The cool thing about a studio party is they can raid the prop shop and decorate it with pieces from sets. And whoa, some of the girls from work were all decked out and lookin’ way good. Get people out of their cubes and they start to look like real human beings. Meanwhile, the guys came in their usual street/cube clothes. That always cracks me up. Working in an office breeds slothness in guys. All in all, pretty good. Didn’t touch food though. Too full from all the sweet crap everybody’s bringing into work. Good fun. Check out the sights and sounds [VIDEO LINK].

So, blah, blah, blah Saddam was captured. I went to this Festivus 2.0 [LINK] party Saturday night. Which just kicked ass. Way bigger than last years Festivus 1.0. Lots of people I knew and Jay [LINK] had it catered by the Double Dutch Dinette [LINK] in Culver City. Which also kicked ass because he could actually mingle around and enjoy the party. Like a boner though I forgot my camera, which wasn’t so bad because I could hang out and enjoy the party. The food was excellent and as soon as I finished eating something, one of the caterers was there to take my plate. That’s a nice touch. Anyway, back to my first tangent. After the regular dinner I started in on the desserts, such as the strawberry short cake thing, the chocolate short cake thing, the brownies, almond brittle, cookies, etc. So by the time the night was done I was completely high on sugar. I could have probably over turned a car with the amount that was flowing through me. Needless to say I didn’t get to sleep until about 3:00am. Which is not good thing when you wake up at 4:00am from a dream that you’re in Iraq running around a battlefield in an intense firefight. You’d think I would dream of being some hero or something and damning the torpedoes by hurling grenades and shit. Nope, I wasn’t fighting. I was just running around like some chicken shit trying to get the hell out of there. It was like I was in Halo [LINK], but without a gun. What a pussy boy. See, WAY too much sugar. Anyway, I’m drifiting in and out and hear something about Saddam being captured and realize I’ve fallen asleep on the couch with the TV on and a live press conference is on about his capture. Probably the reason I’m dreaming of some nightmarish vacation in Iraq. The first thing I can think of in my haze is, man, Fidel Castro sure has put on the weight. I wake up a little more then thought, shit, this means four more years of George Dubya. Well, that, and is my Iraqi dollar with Saddam’s face on it completely useless now, or worth more? At 4:00 in the morning, somehow money was a priority.

Being across the street from one of the largest shopping destinations in L.A. has its pluses and minuses. During the year it’s a blessing as the Farmer’s Market, Barnes and Nobles, Whole Foods, and the Pacific Theaters are all within walking distance and quite manageable. But, before the last belch of some skanky relative’s Thanksgiving stuffing reaches your nose, it turns into an all out maddening chaos. The Farmer’s Market becomes a grey haired gladiator brawl, the 14 screen theater makes you appreciate the 200 seat art house showing “Harold and Maude”, the book store turns into a study hall for University kids cramming for finals, and the Whole Foods grocery store looks like the food relief deliveries in Somalia. From now until Jan. 2nd I will only leave the house for work and emergency purposes. Oh, and “Return of the King next week. I did venture out to see the Mr. Bubble “snow fall” [LINK] at The Grove tonight. Every night at 7:00pm they shoot fake snow in the form of small bubbles from the rooftops to create a wintery holiday vibe. Which is only applicable if you’re from a fairly northern hemisphere country. Santa was there taking orders from the kiddies. “Buddy the elf, what’s your favorite color?” [VIDEO LINK].

After a 10 hour day, nothing makes the pain go away faster than some quality time in the Hot Tub. So I run home, see if my house was broken into, greet the neighbors cats, see which bills are now past due, jump into my ultra flash Kirra board shorts, quickly walk down to the pool in the currently mid 40 degree temps, show my i.d. and I usually join the other water warriors for the daily recap. No one was there when I arrived. So I sat with my own thoughts until the supposedly long ago former Playboy model showed up. Not sure what her story is but she’s one bitter pill. Of the three things she responded to; Thanksgiving sucks it’s just another day, she hates all things Disney, the pool area’s blue & white flags look really stupid, and she has every right to stay until 10:00pm without feeling rushed to get out of the pool. Um, ok. Not even a “Sure was nice out today”. She’s a whole lotta fun. You’d think the hot tub would make her happy. Most of the time when I go out there I feel like Eddie Murphy [VIDEO LINK]. My robe is white though. Man, I love a good Hot Tubbin’.

Oh Baby… a little turkey, a little mashed po tay to, some capiscum [LINK] with carrots, some sweet corn, and a little award winning Chateau St. Jean to wash it down. Get in me belly. I was joined in the festivities by seven lovely ladies I brought back from the Czech Republic. Of course they were in the form of matrioshka nesting dolls [LINK], but still. After a noon day Thanksgiving lunch and a viewing of “The Haunted Mansion” [LINK] with the parents, I figured I go home, cook up a late dinner and catch a “good” movie. So after my “typical American” dinner that included mashed potatos, what else should I go see but a movie about an Irish family moving to America. “In America” [LINK]. If at least one of those two girls [LINK] in the film isn’t a hugely famous actress in the future I’d be very surprised. Great movie, but a border guard doesn’t say “Welcome to America”, they say “Welcome to The United States”. They don’t say “Welcome to Europe” when you go to France. Jus’ sayin’.

I put in an Amazon order recently for a set of DVD’s [LINK]. It’s a series of compilation discs of three different music video directors. Well they came in yesterday and were sitting in my office. I particularly got a lot of mileage out of this one from some of my more naive friends [LINK]. One even said, “And you can buy this on Amazon?”. “Oh, yes, I’ve been quite busy working with Madonna, Bjork, and Aphex Twins outside of my day job.” Of course those in the know, know that the other Chris Cunningham is quite the amazing video director. The bastard. Hence the whole reason I use my full name Christian for screen credits. That and I’m really shallow and vain because my full name is pretty long and therefore much bigger than everybody’s else’s. Like a John Hancock of screen credits because it’s easier to find after 2000 names have rolled by. After watching the disc, that Bjork video for “All Is Full Of Love” really is a thing of beauty [LINK]. Twice now, at different companies, I’ve been introduced to people who have stalled for a second when they heard my name and sheepishly asked are you THE Chris Cunningham. Um, sadly, no. I’ll forever be THE OTHER Chris Cunningham.

The weekend before I left for holiday I actually purchased another of Jett Jackson’s [LINK] paintings. She was showing some work at a show in Beverly Hills and I was hoping she’d still have this one painting that I really liked.

I went the first day of the show to check and someone had given her a bid on it. They said they’d go home and come back at 3:00 if they decide they wanted it. So I came along at about 2:00 and asked her if it was sold and she said she’d had a bid in on it but that if I could beat it by a $100 I could take it right then. She wanted me to have it anyway since I’d already bought a painting from her before and was a known quantity. I told her I’d take it but I’d have to run home and get my checkbook, because if I take my checkbook to an art show I’ll start writing checks until the sun comes up. I’d have lots of art but no roof over my head. I came back with the check and asked her if she could hold onto the painting until I get back from holiday. She was glad to do that because she was having a hard time selling anything at the show because at that point there were people interested but so few actual buyers. She hoped once something had a sold sign on it people would start making decisions. So right after she put a sold sign on mine she said everybody suddenly went nuts and bought enough paintings for her to live off of for the next 6 months. Nice. There were even a few who said they were disappointed because they had wanted mine. Buyers really succumb to peer pressure. They’re a childish lot.

Anyway, tonight I went to pick up the painting. She lives at the Santa Fe Art Colony [LINK] and I got to check out her studio. It was so amazing. What a great place, but what a scary ass part of town to live. They have an open house in May that is supposed to be really great. Frankly I get a much better vibe out of this place than most of the hacks over at the Brewery [LINK]. Below is the painting on the easel surrounded by some of her other work. She’s a bit of a surrealist in a Dali/Picasso sorta way, and I think a touch of art deco via Tamara de Lempicka [LINK]. It’s called “Random Muse-ing”, and the woman has all sorts of little things floating about in her head. (hi darling)

I still love the first one I bought because it also has the same sorta melancholy feeling [LINK]. Although it’s a wee bit sadder. You can click on the pics to get the details. Damn, that’s one beautiful painting. All the cool people think so.

Now that Haunted Mansion has gone the way of ghosts I’m on “The Polar Express” [LINK]. It’s teaser trailer is being released into theaters and should be showing before “Return Of The King”, “Love Actually”, “Looney Tunes”, and “Peter Pan”. Not all prints will have it, so be warned. There’s a couple pics from the quicktime trailer below. Also the Shrek 2 trailer is beautiful [LINK]. Three huge, all CG films next year. “Polar Express” [LINK], “Shrek 2” [LINK], and “The Incredibles” [LINK] from Pixar.

I can’t believe how much losing your luggage sucks. Especially when a whole cd of images from your digital camera is in it and you’ve already erased the card and filled it up again. I also can’t tell you how grateful you feel that there’s a website called My Lost Bag [LINK]. My bag was only eight hours behind me on a 1 hour flight to Ireland. I’m lame and hugged it when it arrived.

I was happy to be leaving London today to hopefully recover from this sickness with some warmth. A few days in Barcelona should cure my ills. I arrived around 6:00pm and Alex was there at the airport. So good to see him and we headed up to the city for some xurros and hot xocolate. On the ride in I even got to teach Alex about MontJuic. Even though he lives in the city he didn’t know where the name came from. Mountain of Jews! There’s a Jewish cemetery there. Cool, I know something! It’s way handy to cruise around the city with someone who lives there. Where to park, which streets to turn on, where the killer hot xocolate is, etc. After we grabbed some xurros and xocolate in the Barrio Gotic [VIDEO LINK] area we headed up Las Ramblas to Placa De Catalunya. Some guy was fast asleep on a car while the city went on around him. It’s always fun to revisit a city you’ve been to before because you’re much more comfortable. No more figuring out the subway system, deciphering the accents, or learning restaurant eccentricities. Alex did a little shopping at a store he likes and then we headed off to his house in Mira-sol. We stopped at a little roadside setup where some guys were selling these little roasted nut kinda things. Alex picked up a newspaper full of them a brought them to the house. Maria showed up a few minutes behind us and had bought some of them too! Can’t quite remember what they were called, but they tasted a bit like potatos. Alex? Help me out with the name? It was good to hang out and chat about things like no time had passed. We even watched “Crocodile Dundee In Los Angeles” late into the night. We laughed at all the silly L.A. moments in it. Probably more than we should have for such a horrid film.

Last day in London and I don’t even want to move. Thought I’d just lay low and try and get a little better. I did have to go out to the University Of London to find out where the show is. That was going to drain me so I tried and be mellow about it. I got lost way too many times on the way there and became totally frustrated. That didn’t help my mood one bit. 16 Horsepower [LINK] [LINK] is pretty much the reason I added the London portion to my trip. They rarely do tours in the States, but seem to tour the Netherlands and England quite frequently. So I was just going to stiff lip it and try and enjoy myself. After I found the place I went back to the hotel and tried to sleep. No help to what sounded like English Footballer fans as I laid there tossing and turning. About 6:00pm I went into slow motion and made my way across town to the University. It was freezing ass cold and I waited in line for a bit and then made my way upstairs to the club. I could die right now. I got some food at the grill and ate in the corner of the cafeteria away from the club section. This was the single worst chicken sandwich I’ve ever eaten. Can’t this country put a decent meal together? Everything I’ve ever eaten in London completely blows. Even today at lunch when I went to Nando’s, it sucked. We use to frequent one of those in New Zealand and it was tasty good. I wish I could turn off my stomach while here. Anyway, I didn’t watch the opening band as they made the Cowboy Junkies seem like a speed metal band. 16 Horsepower came on was just awesome. [Quicktime 6.0/iTunes alert ahead] There’s nothing better than when David Eugene Edwards starts playing the opening bars of “Harm’s Way” [LINK] and “American Wheeze” [LINK] on that Patek Concertina. They’re just too good. I’ve lost track of how many times of seen them. At least 10 off the top of my head. After the show I ran down stairs to get to the bathroom first and passed the band running the other way to get out of the club before the fans. Elvis has left the building. I just nodded and said great show. Sick as a dog I made way home. I was willing to call my joke of a hotel home at this point. Tomorrow I’m off the Barcelona. Maybe I can recover there with a little help from a nice sleep at Alex and Maria’s.

For a lack of anything better to do I decided to go out and see what had become of the Millennium Dome. Well, nothing had become of the Millennium Dome actually. How sad, the giant tent like structure is still sitting along the Thames but there’s nothing but weeds growing up around it. On a day layover in London a couple years ago a friend and I went and it was a really great thing that was showcasing… I’m not sure really what it was showcasing now that I think about it, but it was a lot of fun. Peter Gabriel had composed the music for the Cirque Du Soleil acrobat like show and all sorta of things were flying around. Now it’s dead. It ended up being a bad idea going out there today as I was quickly coming down the one of the most frightening colds I’ve ever had. I was in a bad way by the time I got back to hotel. It hit me so quick.

Unfortunately I had already purchased a ticket for Les Miserables tonight. I’ve seen the show like 5 times but thought I’d see if I liked the London version better. Nope. In fact it was the worst version I’ve seen. The staging was up there, but the key roles were pretty weak. The scary thing is that this one show has been playing here since 1985. 18 years and with over 7500 shows under its belt. That’s half of my lifetime. That’s nuts. No wonder it feels a bit long in the tooth. It’s closing in March and moving down the street to the Queens Theater so that the theater can do its long overdue renovations. I’m soooo sick.

Tonight’s show? “Hot Hot Heat” [LINK] at the London Astoria!! Man, I love this band. Do yourself a favor and get into them. Did my usual morning visit to see the venue where the show is going to be. Then I headed out for some sight seeing. I went back to Abbey Road Studios. There’s even a live cam set up [LINK]. I go out there everytime. I don’t know why. Maybe just to read the new graffiti or just soak in the area. The funny thing is later I was to find out that Paul McCartney and his wife had their baby the night before I went out to the studios. You pass the hospital on they why to the studios which is a short 5 minute walk from St. John’s Wood station. She was kept there a few days so it’s highly probable Paul was there the next morning as I walked by. A mere 30 or so feet to the front door.

After that I hopped the train across the city to the south bank and walked over to the “London Eye” and back up to Trafalgar Square where they’ve done something with all the pigeons. I kind of miss those flying rats, dirty as they are. It was pretty much raining this whole time, which sucked. Got back to the nightmare hotel and grabbed a bite to eat before heading over to the Astoria. All the sightseeing paled in comparison to the show tonight. Quite possibly the most going off show I’ve ever seen. The crowd was near rioting with joy. I got in line and I was definitely one of the older guys there, but I made up for that in lack of acne. The only downside of the show is the smoking. God Lord, you could choke a horse in that place. There was a thick grey cloud blanketing the club the whole night. It made the lights look cool, but it was disgusting and after the show I almost dry heaved a few times. It was that NASTY. The show was great though. Crowd surfers galore and the whole place bouncing in unison was amazing. I thought the floor would cave in. Good fun, but ack, cough, cough.