Trevor's Stupid Blog 2.0

In Texas

2007-07-01T13:16:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Texas on Thursday evening. I am here for a couple of weeks to visit my family. I will still be working full time, just working from here instead of L.A. I'm primarily staying with my sister and will go up and visit my mother for a few days next week in Oklahoma. Miriam (my sister) has been taking me out to several places in Denton that she likes. Denton is a great Texas town. It's a college town with lots of character. I also got to see my nephew, J.D. for the first time. He is almost 2 years old and I have just never had the opportunity to see him. He's adorable. We hung out with him and my brother, Jesse, his dad, yesterday. It's raining like crazy here! It's flooding everywhere.

My sister's yard in Texas. That's supposed to be a front yard, not a lake.

My nephew J.D.

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Film set outside my apartment.

2007-06-26T07:35:00.000-07:00

They were filming a movie today right outside my balcony. They blocked off a lane on Sunset Blvd and had tons of trucks. This was a big production. It is for the movie "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" starring Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars). I kept peering over looking for a glimpse of my favorite crimebuster hottie, but she was nowhere in sight. They had the tents up all over. The signs posted outside on the street said they were only filming for the day. Living in Hollywood, I run into film sets all the time, but this is the first time one has been 50 feet from my window.

Blocking off Sunset Blvd.

View from my balcony.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800039/

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The Haunting

2007-06-25T11:25:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went with some friends to see "The Haunting" at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. During the summer they show old films under the stars inside the cemetery. It's a lot of fun. You bring your own food, a picnic blanket, and laugh at all the older cheesy over-acting. About 2000 people show up for the event. The Haunting is about an old house that is haunted and a team of psychic investigators show up to study it. I honestly couldn't pay close enough attention to really understand what was going on. It brought more laughs than shrieks from the audience, that's for sure.

"The Haunting" at Hollywood Forever Cemetery

http://www.cinespia.org

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How to give a great man to man hug

2007-06-16T13:11:00.000-07:00

I love Apple

2007-06-16T10:56:00.000-07:00

For the past week or so my laptop has been making crazy noises with the fans spinning really loudly. At times I felt it was going to explode and leave shards of nice Apple design features embedded in my face. And then the fans just stopped running altogether. This led to it overheating and then just shutting down on it's own. So, I took it into the Apple Store at The Grove and told them of the issue. I paid for AppleCare protection, which is so worth it. It's an extended warranty for your mac. The guy at the store said that the fans were completely dead. And that the parts were on backorder and wouldn't be available for another month. This was bad news. I could not go without my laptop for a month. I earn my income on that puppy. I told him this was just not a good solution for me and he directed me to call the main Apple Customer Support line. He said that maybe if I explained the situation, they may just give me a replacement laptop. So, that's what I did. I spent about 45 minutes on the phone with Gina from Apple Support explaining the issue and being on hold for a while. Her first solution was to have me mail in my laptop and then they would mail me back a brand new one. That was great! But I wanted better. Why should I have to mail mine in and wait for a new one when the Apple Store was right there. Couldn't I just hand mine over to the Apple Store and let them give me a new one? That would work out so much better for me. I tried to convince her of this and she then called the Apple Store to see if that was OK. It was. I walked back to the store, they took my broken almost 2 years old laptop and gave the very best top of the line 15 inch MacBook Pro that was just released a couple of weeks ago! I walked into the store at 11:00 am and 3 hours later I was driving home with a brand new laptop. I love Apple.

Arcade Fire Live

2007-05-31T08:19:00.000-07:00

Last night I saw one of my favorite bands, Arcade Fire, perform live at the Greek Theatre here in Los Angeles. The Greek Theatre is an outdoor amphitheater situated in Griffith Park. It is a beautiful venue. I almost didn't go because I had an extra ticket and couldn't find anyone to go with and even though I love the band, I wasn't looking forward to going by myself. But, at the last minute, I forced myself to go. The parking was horrendous. I was stressed by the time I got to the gate and questioning my decision to go at it alone. But then everything got better. I guy bought my extra ticket outside the gate, I went inside and some of my friends happened to be there as well. So we hung out for a bit and then went to our separate seats to enjoy the show. And enjoy I did! What an amazing band. Afterwards we met up to hang out at a local fav, the Cha Cha Lounge. It was a fun time to be had by all.

Arcade Fire live at the Greek Theatre.

Cha Cha Lounge.

From Arcade Fire

Links:

Arcade Fire
Greek Theatre
Cha Cha Lounge

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Cooking with Trevor and Rachael Ray

2007-05-24T07:29:00.000-07:00

I've just gotten on a cooking kick. Until recently, I've always been strongly opposed to anything more difficult than opening up a hot pocket and putting it in the microwave for 2 minutes. Last week I got one of Rachael Ray's cookbooks on an impulse. I read through it and the recipes seemed fairly easy and something that I could handle. As I've tried more recipes, I've gotten more excited about cooking for myself and abolishing fast food all together. I live right across the street from Ralph's (California Grocery chain) and so I'm there pretty much every other day buying ingredients for that night's meal. The portions are usually for 4 people, so I stick all the leftovers in the fridge or freezer. It's also fun going to the grocery store and asking cute women such things as "excuse me, can you help me out? what is a scallion?", or "do you know what tamari is?" My favorite dish so far is the Thai Chicken Pizza. It is so delicious, even better than California Pizza Kitchen in my humble opinion. Each of the recipes are supposed to only take 30 minutes to prepare, that's Rachael Ray's whole shtick, but it generally takes me about an hour because I'm fairly slow and slicing and chopping.

Thai Chicken Pizza.

This is a great starter book.

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Santa Barbara Trip

2007-05-12T12:28:00.000-07:00

I spent the past two days in Santa Barbara. At the last minute on Thursday I felt a need to take a day trip and get out of town. I convinced my friend Michael to come along and we decided to drive up to Santa Barbara. We arrived in town around 4:00 PM and began looking for a cheap motel. We got a place near the beach called the Pacific Crest. We then went and checked out downtown Santa Barbara on State Street and the night life there. Apparantly Thursday night is "College Night" and we were about 10 years older than everyone one else out on State Street. We had fun regardless. The next day we took a 2 hour whale watching tour. We didn't see any whales, but saw a few dolphins and enjoyed the serenity of boating down the California coast on the "Double Dolphin" from the Santa Barbara Sailing Center. We both got sunburned pretty bad though. We arrived back in town to Los Angeles around 6:00 PM on Friday night. Santa Barbara is a beautiful city and it was great to get a change of scenery for a couple of days.

Aqualung

2007-05-09T10:17:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to see one of my favorite bands, Aqualung, at the Fonda Theatre here in Hollywood. I was a bit bummed at first because my friend that was going with me ditched me at the last minute so I had to go solo. But shortly after arriving, I made some friends hanging out on the rooftop deck and ended up hanging out for the rest of the show. They were two lesbian couples and very kind and welcomed me into their group. While hanging out on the rooftop, we could view the fire that was taking over Griffith Park. The entire sky in the east was red and smoky. The theatre was about a mile away from the fire.

The Lab

2007-05-07T09:36:00.000-07:00

I had a fairly eventful weekend this past weekend. On Saturday I went and saw Spiderman 3 at the Arclight. There was a lot of fun action and special effects in the movie, but overall I was disappointed. There was just too many different storylines going on and it got sappy a lot. It definitely did not feel like a wrapped up end to a trilogy, if anything it seemed that it was setting up things for another movie, just because nothing seemed to get really resolved with any of the characters.

Saturday night Gavin and I went with our friend Connie down to Orange County to an art opening in Costa Mesa. It was at a shopping/dining/art complex called "The Lab". They had the art show in several freight trailers. There is an interesting article in the OC Register here. It was a very bohemian crowd and a fun time. Plus they had free Grosch beer. More photos are on link over on the top right.

On Sunday my friend Michael invited me at last second to go to an Angel's baseball game and after I drove an hour to get down there, the game was already almost over. So we ended up just hanging out at Downtown Disney at Tortilla Joe's. For those that don't know, Downtown Disney is a free part of the park that has shopping and restaurants. Disneyland is very close to the Angels Stadium.

Echo Park

2007-04-26T09:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I bought a new camera to replace the one I lost in Ireland. I then went to Echo Park to try it out. Echo Park is both a park and a community within Los Angeles. It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed taking time out to walk around the park and take pictures. From one side of the park you can see downtown and from the other you can see the mountains in the background. Los Angeles is a beautiful city to live in.

To see more of the photos, click here.

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My sister on the radio today!

2007-04-21T13:48:00.000-07:00

Back in my hometown of Pilot Point, Texas, where my sister currently lives, they are having a festival in the town square this weekend. A Dallas radio station named "The Range" is broadcasting live from the event at a popular place called Lowbrows. My sister, Miriam, co-hosted as a local representative with the DJ from 95.3 The Range. I was able to record the show from their internet broadcast and I must say, I'm quite proud of sis. She really has the talent to be a DJ is she so chooses. But she's also a musician, so I'm not sure that would work out. I guess she could have her own show that she DJ's and then spins her own music. You can listen to the parts of the broadcast that included Miriam through the MP3 link below. Also, feel free to check out her website and send her props!

KHYI 95.3 The Range

MP3 of Miriam on the radio with The Range

www.miriamgreye.com

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Hot Fuzz

2007-04-21T11:54:00.000-07:00

I got to see a Director's Q&A screening of "Hot Fuzz" last night at the ArcLight Theatre here in Hollywood. Hot Fuzz is made by the same people who made Shaun of the Dead. It's about a super cop in London who gets transfered to a small village and he has to adjust to the quiet village, until..., well go see it!. It's freakin hilarious. It combines comedy and high action, and even though the action is a spoof on the over-the-top "Michael Bay type" movies, it survives on it's own as action that draws you in and makes you cheer when the bad guys are taken down. You just want to scream "Yeah!!" and laugh hysterically at the same time. Go see it.

We got a treat after the film. It was just supposed to be the director there, but the two starring cast members came out as well. But before that Eli Roth came up and introduced Jack Black. Then Jack Black came up said he loved the film and then he introduced Quentin Tarantino. Then Quentin Tarantino introduced the filmmakers. They were all just having a lot of fun and it was entertaining to be a part of it. My seat was right next to the exit where a Quentin and Rosario Dawson and Zoe Bell all from his movie "Death Proof" were hanging out together. They were handing out DVD's (actually they were handing out Bad Boys II DVD's, which was featured in the film) to everyone that asked a lot of questions. Unfortunately, the questions asked were kind of silly and had nothing to do with the movie. When they were down to their last 3 giveaway DVD's, Quentin said he would give out the DVD's to only people with good questions. Quentin forced the filmmakers to stay there longer than they were supposed to because no one was asking "Quentin Approved" questions. One guy in the back stood up and started his question, "As a working actor, what advice would you give..." that's all he got out. His question was booed and he had to sit back down. So much fun. On my way out I walked past Quentin who had his arms around Zoe Bell and I told him while passing that I loved Death Proof. Then I ended up walking down the street with the castmembers. I didn't say anything, but it was fun for a moment to feel like I was one of the cool kids. :)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425112/

Grindhouse

2007-04-18T11:32:00.000-07:00

I saw "Grindhouse" yesterday at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. It's a double-feature film done by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. The first film done by Robert Rodiquez was called "Planet Terror" and was basically a fun zombie movie. The second film by Quentin Tarantino called "Death Proof" and was about a killer who used his stunt muscle car to take his victims. They even included fake movie trailers that were mini movies themselves.

It was mostly filmed in Austin, Texas and was a bit gory at times which I really didn't enjoy, but overall it was a great thrill ride. I loved it. They wanted to make the films in the genre of some films made in the 70's that were played at the secondary, lower-rate drive-in theaters. The film isn't for everyone, but for those that love zombies, muscle cars, or scar-faced Kurt Russell, you'll love it!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462322/

Home!

2007-04-10T09:26:00.000-07:00

I have arrived home safe and sound. I got home on Sunday night and spent all day yesterday just relaxing and trying to get over jet lag. I was on right sleep schedule, but was just exhausted all day and the li'l brain wasn't functioning very well. My place is a wreck. Right before leaving, I discovered that my passport was missing from it's usual spot. I had to tear my whole apartment apart before finally finding it. And it just so happens that the hot water in my building was not working yesterday, so I couldn't even do laundry or dishes. I did, however, bathe by pouring pots of boiling water into the tub.

I've got some gaps to fill in on my daily adventures which I will do soon and I've also got more photos to upload. Although, overall, I'm not really happy with photos from this trip. I don't really feel like I got anything noteworthy other than just typical touristy shots and snapshots of friends. Maybe next time.

Wednesday

2007-04-05T03:13:00.000-07:00

I'm running out of creative titles for my posts. Actually, I don't think they were ever really that creative. I should've started them out with just Dublin, Day 1, etc. Yesterday I spent a lot of the day not doing much and taking a bit of a breather from going pretty much non-stop since last Friday. I did a little work from a local pub that had WiFi and just relaxed knowing that I had no agenda. Then later that evening I met up with a couple of people that Miriam and I met the first night here. Beth and Joe were at the "Oldest Pub in Ireland", The Brazen Head, with co-workers, for a going away party with one of the employees. It was so warm and nice today that we got to sit outside without jackets for a little bit. After the Brazen Head, I got to go to the "Smallest Pub in Ireland," which was just a room with a bar. It was kinda funny. And surprisingly cozy.

Irish Gospel Jam

2007-04-04T07:10:00.000-07:00

Last night Miriam and I got the opportunity to go to an intimate gathering of musicians doing a Gospel themed jam session. It was put on by our friend Gavin Glass that we met on Sunday night at Whelan's. It was held in the upstairs members only section of a cool bar on Camden street named Anseo. There was about 15-20 people there I suppose and most seem connected to the music scene here in Dublin. Drinking a pint of Guinness while singing "I'll fly away Lord Jesus" is something I will always treasure. Gavin and a popular singer over here named Mundy also got to jam a few songs and do some covers of Bob Dylan. And everyone in the room sang backup at one point or another. Miriam even had the opportunity to get up twice and sing. Once she did backup with Gavin on a song called Wagon Wheel, and then another time she got to sing one of her own songs, "Red Moon," a cappella style. Have you checked our her music on mySpace yet? Check it out here: http://www.myspace.com/miriamgreye

Miriam and Gavin Glass

Gavin Glass and Mundy

After the jam was over we all headed down to a popular club next to Whelan's called The Village. The had a good DJ there and it was a fun time had by all hanging out and dancing. We got back pretty late and Miriam had an early flight so she could only nap on the couch in the lobby for an hour before her taxi came. I made sure she got in her taxi ok and she should be flying somewhere over the Atlantic by now. I am here for a few more days and fly out on Saturday.

Dancing at The Village

Miriam and Danielle, the Canadian-Irish country singer

Musician Cousins Stacey and Zoe

Cormic and Danielle

Ireland Countryside

2007-04-03T05:15:00.000-07:00

Monday we went touring around the neighboring countryside around Dublin named Wicklow county. It was simply amazing. In a hurry to get to the van that gave us the tour, I lost my new camera while running. So, my one opportunity to take wonderful pictures of the countryside was lost. But I still had my phone with me, so I took pictures with my camera phone, until the battery died, which it was already near dead. Some pictures turned out ok and I didn't let the unfortunate loss spoil my day. We were in a van of 8 people with an older Irishman guiding the tour. He drove us through the countryside, stopped for lunch at a nice little village restaurant and then we toured an old monastery in Glendalough. It was founded in the 10th century and I was left in awe standing on the grounds of something with such historical and spiritual significance.

Miriam learning from the tour guides

St. Kevin's Monastery founded in 10th century

After the countryside tour we went to a pub near our hostel which had free WiFi and I caught up a bit on bills, news and stuff. Most of the people at the pub at this time came straight from work. There was one group that had a particularly obnoxious, loud, and boisterous person whose laugh you could hear all the way out in the street. I remember thinking to myself, what a jerk. By the end of the evening we were best mates. His name is Gavan. He's a great guy that just happens to be a bit louder than most. We reminded me of some of the tough guys in the Guy Ritchie films. We ended up sitting at their table of 5 and they kept buying us pints until it was time to go. I love Ireland. :)

Sunday's Adventures

2007-04-02T00:56:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we started off the day with a traditional Irish Sunday lunch at a popular pub. The Irish all come out and eat and hang out at the pubs on Sunday afternoons. After that and a long walk, we did a tour of the famous Guinness Warehouse. It was huge. After the tour you get a 'free' pint on top of the museum in a bar that gives you a 360 degree view of the entire city from way up high.

Bar on top of the Guinness museum

And then last night we went to a place called Whelan's based on a recommendation from a few people here. They were playing Johnny Cash and covering other country American artists. After the music was over we chatted with the singer, named Gavin Glass, and he invited us to hang out with him and his friends at another place. We met tons of fun people and had a great time.

Live music at Whelan's

I'll write more later. Our van is almost here to take a tour of the countryside for the day.

Saturday Fun in Dublin

2007-04-01T09:52:00.000-07:00

Miriam and I have had a fantastic time the past couple of days. On Saturday we walked around Dublin and visited the Dublin Castle. The architecture was interesting and an odd mix of different styles.

Dublin Castle

We've also been trying as much as possible experiencing the Irish culture. And that of course means spending lots of times in pubs. We have met some great people here. The Irish that we have met have been very open and friendly. On Saturday night we went back to Sine. There was a girl celebrating her birthday there, Miriam bought her a drink, and we were in the crowd the rest of the night.

Christina, Eva, Myself, and Claire

First Night in Dublin

2007-03-31T03:20:00.000-07:00

Miriam and I arrived in Dublin last night around 6:30 PM. For some strange reason, American Airlines decided not to check Miriam's bags all the way through to our final destination, so her checked luggage did not accompany us. It was a little bit of stress, but it all worked out fine because they were able to put it on a later flight and they delivered her bags to our hostel later that night.

After getting settled in our hostel, (we're staying at the Four Courts Hostel near Temple Bar area in case you're in town and want to visit) we went out to explore the town. We headed for a place called Sine (Miriam pronounces it "sha-nay", I pronounce it "seen") because I heard they had free WiFi. It wasn't working, but it turned out to be a really fun place. We didn't want to go to touristy bars, and this place was perfect, except that we kind of made it touristy by being there. Miriam asked for a margarita. First drink in Dublin and she asks for a margarita. The bartender just laughed and walked away. We then met a group of cool people there and they invited us to go to another bar that was a short walk away. One of the girls in the group had a crush on the bartender there. We went along and had a wonderful time. The group we met were so friendly and we all got along so great.

Sheenan, Abbie, Mark, Beth, Sean, Miriam, and myself.

Arrived in London Safely

2007-03-30T06:23:00.000-07:00

Miriam and I have arrived safely in London. We are hanging out in London Gatwick Airport. We leave for Dublin in a couple of hours. We've been catching up in a pub here in the airport. We made a friend named James from England on his way to Spain. I was able to sleep the whole flight over. Miriam wasn't as lucky, so I'm having to slap her around a bit to keep her awake.

Miriam and her new boyfriend James

Instant vicarious gratification

2007-03-29T15:51:00.000-07:00

I'm at the Charlotte Airport having my traditional pint of beer before a long flight. I'm really hoping that I can sleep through the 8 hour flight and awake refreshed for the day. I get in around 8:00 in the morning on Friday.

Also, I'm planning on taking lots of pictures and my cool little camera lets me email the photos straight from the camera if you are in a WiFi zone (wireless internet). And I'm sure I'll find all the spots in Dublin that have free WiFi. So, if you want to be added to my list of sending out photos from my trip just let me know. Instant vicarious gratification. Send me an email and I will add you to the Trevor & Miriam 2007 Ireland Trip Instant Photo E-mail list! :)

I'll be in Dublin tomorrow night!

2007-03-29T11:09:00.000-07:00

I'm just finishing up a long week of work and getting ready to fly out tonight for Ireland for a 10 day vacation getaway. I've never been to Ireland and am very excited to take this trip. I'm extremely tired right now because I didn't sleep much last night so that I would be able to sleep through the long flight tonight.

My sister Miriam is also going to join me for the vaca. We are meeting up at London Gatwick Airport on Friday morning and from there we'll fly into Dublin later that night. We're staying in Dublin for the trip and will take one or two day trips to the countryside. We haven't planned much other than our lodging and will just figure it out once we get there with our Lonely Planet Guidebooks. I've never traveled with my sister before and am really looking forward to spending time with her in another country. I'm going to try to keep up regular updates about our trip, so be sure to check back!

The blog is back!!

2007-03-28T07:55:00.000-07:00

I took a break from blogging for a while just because I got kind of tired of it and also didn't feel like I was writing anything interesting or original. The blog is back and I've got some fun ideas to make it more interactive. So keep reading and I'll try not to disappoint!