Robyn Blathers On. Again.

2009-01-12T00:03:00.000-08:00

I'm so angry at Blogger. I've tried to fix this problem before, and it seems like it should be very easy. At some point, blogger stopped supporting my archives. When you click on the archives to the right, all you see is the code.

Why?

I have no idea. When I go into my dashboard, there they all are, all 375, dating back to 2004. Tonight, it became an issue again. The gals over at Teeny Manolo, a site that writes about kid stuff offered to link back to me as a thank you for suggesting a story idea. It would be great, except, I have written a whole lot a nuthin' the past few months. If someone could peruse my archives, at least that would make it worth it, but they can't. So why even bother, because even though the old saw goes "there is no such thing as bad publicity" I know from experience you want to put your best foot forward, and something half ass-y is not they way to go in the creative arts.

My web pages are a sorry mess because I still don't have a edition of dreamweaver that works, or I need to transfer it all to some apple supports POS that does, and just spend the money to pay for the hosting or whatever.

I just want to be able to easily update. That why I used to like blogger so much and why now I'm down to facebook status. I log on, say my thing and BAM! done. That was the whole idea with the web pages. Log in, fill in the blank, upload and done.

This blogger thing has dragged on for what seems like a year and half and I just haven't had the energy to deal. Every time I spend an hour trying to solve it, I get nowhere.

I have so little time as it is for creative endeavors. I can't spend what little energy I have banging my head against the wall.

2009-01-11T09:07:00.000-08:00

I am actually planning on going to go to Disneyland on my birthday this year. Disney is running some kind of promotion that gives you free admission to -Land or -World on your birthday, if you sign up in advance, which I'm sure gets me on all sorts of mailing lists no matter what I tried to opt out of. It looks like kids age 2 and under are free, so we will only have to pay for one ticket. That runs around $70, but when it's split two or three way, doesn't seem like quite so ridiculous. Even if we just walk around and go on the "baby rides" it should be a nice time for all of us.

Which is just what The Mouse wants from us!!!!

2009-01-07T15:17:00.001-08:00

Hi Blog! I miss you so much! I've been ignoring you for months for my new bestie, Facebook, and it's one line "status updates." It's been like writing blog entries as haiku. I have to boil down the entire entry in one or two concise sentences. Larger ideas have been scribbled into my comedy notebook for use later- Countess monologues, video pieces, sketches...

I am coming back, I promise.

You don't even want to know how I've treating Web Page. I don't even have the right software to update it right now. Web Page still thinks it's September.

Happy New Year!

Love, Robyn

2008-11-21T05:47:00.000-08:00

A week of small victories!

It took two days and over six hours on the phone with various tech supports, but Steve got our home network to work! That means we can have his PC, my Mac and the X box on as a media extender to have music playing ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

Dexter has slept through the night 3 nights in a row.

We are all feeling better, and Dex and I are finally over the cold that lasts three weeks.

Trader Joe's is carrying Dexter's favorite Chicken Nuggets again. He held the box in the cart and clamored to have them as soon as we got home.

I have a day of union costume work today.

2008-11-19T08:14:00.000-08:00

I'm inspired constantly by ideas for new blog posts, and I even outline them in my head, but my time is so limited right now that very rarely do I get to sit right down and bang it out.

I have been made very aware the past two weeks about patronizing the restaurants in my neighborhood and in LA in general. This 'economic downturn' has been hard for them, but I think the latest belt tightening for people has really an effect.

Now it's the fancier joints. My pal Tara Ochs is a server at Asia de Something in Beverly Hills, and she sent out a Facebook blast letting us know she can get a good table and a discount. Yelp is reminding me. American AAdvantage too. I'm sure that Almalfi's is not happy that the ACME season seemed to end one week early and the theater is dark through January. The actors themselves didn't eat all that much but they certainly kept the bar going and show patrons would eat there before and after shows. I hope Room 5 can keep it up.

We have not been eating out at all. We did go to Cold Springs Tavern on Sunday for Dana's birthday, and we have ordered pizza and take out chinese during the past few weeks, but out to dinner at a place nice enough for us to get a babysitter? I can't rembember when. Months? I have a clipping for a place in Glendale we've been meaning to try.

Yesterday the LA Times reminded me that if I don't go out even a little now, that the places I love may not be around when we finally can afford them again. Life is just grinding to a halt.

2008-11-05T12:14:00.000-08:00

Finally.

I can get my life back in order now that the elections are over. I will no longer spend any free computer time I have trolling news sites and reddit.com and blogs for poll results.

I'm thrilled and excited about Obama. I'm a little sad for McCain. I don't think this was the campaign he wanted and he looked a bit embarrassed when people booed Obama during his very gracious concession speech. I think it is not the last we have seen of Ms. Palin, and agree with my pal Rebecca that the real reason she didn't let her medical records be seen was NOT that Trig is Bristol's, but that there is an abortion in her past. A cutie pie party girl in the early 80's? A D&C in 1982 would be WAY more damaging to her political career than trying to cover up for her teen daughter's baby.

I wonder who Bush will be pardoning over the next two months, and I'm sure Laura Bush will be very relieved to finally get the hell out of Washington and home to Texas. I'm sure she mentally moved home this spring when her daughter got married.

I STILL cannot believe that Prop 8 passed, and that Southern California was so overwhelmingly for it. I live in a very gay friendly neighborhood, work with gay people and have many gay friends. I had not actually seen one Yes On Prop 8 sign in person, just hundreds of No on Prop 8 signs. The doomsday emails I was receiving daily from various gay organizations I dismissed as coffer filling fear mongering. I signed the petition, I joined the facebook groups, but did I give cold hard cash? Not to No on Prop 8. Sigh. I hang my head in shame. I was complacent. I thought it was a sure thing. I had no idea the Great State of California would vote for Chicken Rights but not Gay Rights. My pal Sam Shaw was right. It was huge AM radio media buys. Steve listens to 640 AM on his clock radio. I would hear the ads in passing. Know thine enemy. Liberals need to stop listening to KCRW and KPCC, turn off their computers and buy ads on local channels during the news and Tyra, and advertise on wacko AM radio. Stop preaching to the converted!

Down off the soapbox...

What has happened to me in the past month? I'm not quite sure because I truly have been distracted. I can tell you today I am sick as a dog and wish I had already gotten my flu shot, but I won't until the first week of December.

The news around here-

1.I got a commercial agent! And she doesn't even seem to be a scam artist. Frankly, at this point I wouldn't care if she was. I'm just proud to be able to finally have representation.

2. The front deck is under construction. The old steps have been demolished, they have replaced the foundation under the front wall of the building, and we have temporary wooden steps. The "portable" cement mixer is still in the back yard, so I know that the digging and pouring of the new deck foundation should be soon. Ben projects the deck should be finished in another two weeks. I bet by December 1st.

3. Steve is having his diverticulitus surgery this week, and will be home recovering for two weeks after that. It should take care of the continual flare ups he's been having for over a year.

4. I just finished almost three weeks at Jimmy Kimmel Live working on all the Halloween costumes. They came out great. The costume designer Rodney Munoz is a treat to work with, and always amazes me with how hard he works. Some designers just kind of cruise by on the strength of their staff, but this guy can and would do everybody's job if there were only 65 hours in each day. His staff is very loyal, and I'm proud to be a part of the team.

5. Dexter is still adorable.

2008-10-10T13:09:00.000-07:00

JoAnn Fabrics in Glendale, CA is a horrible fabric store, and I will never, ever shop there ever again.

Once again, I fell for the "it's right there, I won't have to drag downtown" idea. The Glendale JoAnn's is just a few blocks away from Dexter's play group. I would be able to do both things in the morning before it got too hot and Dexter got too tired. The store is 11th Circle of Hell, and each time it is a new low. This time, there were only three shopping carts in the whole store, and all three of them had wheels that wouldn't turn. They made the carts at Trader Joe's seem like Porches. I chose the best of the three and soldiered on. I dragged the cart to the back of the store only to find they had no fur. Well, they had three bolts of crap- black and white cow, and two other bedraggled whatever. That was it. I have to say it was the non-functioning cart that put me over the edge. The wheels were locked, as if I had tried to remove the cart from the perimeter of the parking lot, yet I was standing in the middle of the store. The staff moons around like zombies. The store looks like absolute crap, with water leak marks staining the ceilings and walls, and merchandise displayed in piles. The lighting is bad. All the stores are like this-Pasadena, Simi Valley, Valley Village, but THIS location is the absolute worst.

The only exception, and it is a SHINING JEWEL of a store, is the one at Porter Ranch. But it is no average JoAnn's. It is some kind of JoAnn's superstore. It is well lit, large, well merchandised, the staff is friendly and helpful, and it is a pleasure to shop there. I don't have any idea why the other stores are not like it.

I don't care what coupons they send, or if I only need thread. I will never, ever shop at JoAnn's of Glendale ever again.

Great Grandmother for Obama and Biden

2008-10-09T16:03:00.001-07:00

A response to Sarah Silverman's Great Schlep. It looks like it is working, one Bubbe at a time.

2008-09-29T11:21:00.000-07:00

are we bailing out everyone?

I try and stay informed. I'm well read. But the loop-de-loops the economy and Wall Street are taking this past month is beyond my scope of knowledge. Not because I'm stupid, but because there are only so many things I can be knowledgeable about. I hire an accountant. Corporate types hire me to liven up their events or shill their product or pay me for my opinion in a fancy focus group.

But all of this. I KNOW we are getting reamed up the ass and hard. And I just don't have the tools to understand it. Bailout good? Bailout bad? I was not an econ major!
This is so much BS I can't even see straight. The past two months are putting me in the loony bin. How is Joe Nascar and Sally the Soccer Mom dealing with all of this? Are they just gazing at pictures of Jesus and Sarah Palin and not even worrying about it? They've got mortgages, credit cards that are about to be revoked (B of A is going to call home 60% of their credit cards. You are out of luck if your FICO is below 750) and their 401K just took a huge dump. They HAVE to be starting to sweat it.

Am I just giving in to the fear mongering? Has ANY of this affected me yet? Not really. Things are same old, same old here. Prices for basic things have gone up, gas of course, groceries, the utility bills have edged up, but they always edge up. Steve still has a job, though his 401K is nosediving. I'm still working as much as I have been since Dexter was born. Perhaps a few days NOT reading reddit or listening to NPR are in order.

2008-09-26T12:28:00.000-07:00

I found my wallet the next morning out in the little compartment on the stroller's handle. The "remove from Dexter's grasp" did happen outside the house, and that was a terrible place to stash it, as it doesn't seem like it would fit, so I wouldn't think to look. In fact, I had checked the stroller first, and did gloss right over that little lid.

I should never look at the How-To Baby books. Invariably, he can't do one or two things in the "your baby should ABSOLUTELY be doing these things or call the doctor immediately" column, but yet can also do a bunch of things in the "your baby MAY be able to do this, but probably not" column.

I guess when they say "drink from a cup" they don't mean well, just that he can hold the cup, put it up to his mouth, tip it, get some liquid in his mouth and feel all proud. They don't mention that he'll try and drink from the wrong lip a couple of times first, dump most of the liquid out first and spill the rest of what doesn't go in his mouth down the front of his shirt.

2008-09-24T00:48:00.000-07:00

I can't find my wallet and I'm ready to rip handfuls of hair from my scalp.

Today's task was to make 8 hours worth of work in 4 hours, mostly in Dexter's two hours of nap, and then deliver by 5pm. Needless to say, I was very focused to the task at hand, and somewhat panicked the entire time.

I somewhat remember Dexter getting my wallet out of the bag I had used this morning, and fishing it away from him immediately, misdirecting him to something else and ditching the wallet, while thinking, "this isn't good, you will never find it. KEEP SEWING!!!!!" When it was time to leave to deliver the costumes, I actually left the house without it, as I couldn't spare the time to look any harder than a cursory glance.

It is now 1 am. I have cleaned up and checked everywhere. Nothing. I'm wasting valuable sleeping/bathing/reading time frantically searching.

Did I just falsely remember taking it away from him at home? I do it so often, it's rote. Instead, did it fall out while walking home from breakfast? Will my head stop hurting?

I want to smash things.

High-Fructose Corn Syrup Ad 2

2008-09-16T21:12:00.001-07:00

here's the other one. my favorite part in both of them, is that the anti-HFCS person "can't remember" why the stuff is so bad.

If I didn't know any better, I'd think they were produced by The Onion and were parody ads. You can bet this just went into the comedy notebook!

High-Fructose Corn Syrup Ad 1

2008-09-16T21:09:00.001-07:00

Check this out, and the next one. HFCS is "fine in moderation!" Where are the ads for smoking just a couple of cigarettes to go with it? When this cheap filler hit the market 20 years ago was the same time our society spiked in diabetes, obesity and super-sizing everything. It is less filling than cane sugar on a molecular level, and way cheaper to use. Bigger portions that leave you less satiated. Just more fodder for my Tin Foil Hat Rant of the last few weeks.

2008-09-16T00:51:00.000-07:00

I've been out of commission the past few weeks, crafting my very special tin foil hat that I now need to wear since Sarah Palin was nominated. I cannot stop ranting and raving over the political situation. If they wanted to get people talking, the Mission Accomplished.

Thankfully, I had a gig with the Countess last Tuesday at The Echo as part of an variety show fundraiser. I was on the bill with a fantastic drag queen named Kay Sidilla and a very large woman who tap danced to AC/DC's Back in Black. The Countess held her own and totally killed with a 5 minute rant about politics, with a little Michael Phelps thrown in for good measure. A late summer round-up, if you will. Did I get it on video? Of course not. Sigh.

I think the collective rage people are feeling stems from a feeling of helplessness about the entire situation. We see things going terribly wrong and only getting worse by the day, but yet the people in charge keep saying everything is okay. We've tried to elect candidates that we believe in, yet they don't win, even though they seem to get enough votes. A very vocal and organized faction is dictating to us what is best for us, but we don't believe in their morals and they don't want us to believe in ours. People are at a breaking point. I never want to see Elizabeth Hasselbeck's face ever again, I'm so filled with hate for her.

With Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch taking a nose dive over the weekend, I was astounded to hear McCain say everything was ok this morning. Forget about AIG today and the market taking a 500 point dive. That his handlers were spouting the party line after even just the weekend's announcements is insane.

And yet, Red State Nation is still gung ho. Do they just not understand?

It was actually weirdly thrilling to see clips of the Sarah Palin/Charles Gibson(?) interview. I wonder if it would actually put fear into our enemies that we would purposefully elect a crazy person to be president. This is a crusade for her. For Reals. Like the Crusades in the Middle Ages. And she is willing to die, and for all of us to die, because we can all be together in the Kingdom of Heaven for doing the righteous thing. That whole thing about not blinking. She is NOT going to blink. She is a Christian Warrior. Her God is better than Their God, and Her God is Our God, because She is An American. This is what my tin foil hat is for. When this stuff starts to sound almost plausible. Fighting crazy extremists with crazy extremists. I just might work!!! Except it hasn't in the past 8 years. But Bush and Cheney weren't CRAZY like this broad is! They are a lot of things, but crazy ain't it.

Maybe that should be the GOP slogan. We're Just That Crazy. We Don't Blink.

Hat!!!!! Foil hat!!!!!!!

Every day it is something new. I get a whole thing to blog about, and then the next day something new and better comes up. I've exerted enough energy over this that it feels like three months, not less than three weeks.

2008-08-29T10:51:00.000-07:00

It is a great morning in America.

We are going to either elect an awesome black man or a guy who has 'Nam flashbacks and chose a hippie woman married to an Eskimo to be his VP.

2008-08-27T08:40:00.000-07:00

Dexter is officially walking! We can no longer call him The Baby, but must refer to him by his new title, Toddler. It is still that Chimp On His Hind Legs gait, but I have not seen him crawl at all yet today. Leading up to this, there has still been some crawling when he wanted to get somewhere faster, but so far, only proudly walking.

Sisyphus

2008-08-17T23:31:00.001-07:00

It's finally finished! My entry to Julie Pittman and Jeremy Rosenberg's One Minute Film Festival being held at the Echo Park Film Center in September. The resolution for YouTube isn't as nice as the actual film, but you can get the idea.

2008-08-09T23:09:00.000-07:00

The whole John "just call him Newt Gingrich" Edwards thing makes me sad and mad. The detail I just can't get over is the woman's reported paycheck for making 4, count 'em, four, webisodes.

$100,000.

That's a budget of $25,000 per webisode, one of which was 2 1/2 minutes. For her salary, not the actual budget. Supposedly shot documentary style over the course of a few months. And she had never done anything else as a videographer before. Nice work if you can get it.

Perhaps this was the budget for the whole project. Who is she paying? Camera, sound and an editor? Equipment and travel? I could see it getting to be that kind of dough, perhaps...or maybe a way to put his mistress on the payroll.

2008-08-08T15:44:00.000-07:00

I love the Right Tool for the Right Job. I had a goal today, and got it done!!!

A few weeks ago I bought Dexter a new little wading pool, a step up from what we had before. This one has higher sides, a cushy bottom and was so much more pool for $15. It also required MUCH more inflating, and after a few evening sitting around blowing it up while watching tv, and getting nowhere, I realized I would need More Power.

Ben has a compressor and was very happy to let me use it, but I needed a specialty nozzle. Today was the day, so Dex, Ben and I set out for some hardware store way out in the valley that is a favorite of Ben, Helen, and the rest of the guys on their crews. It was so worth the trip! I was not all made in China either. In addition to my five nozzle set, I also picked up a mini anvil from India, and scored some work gloves made in Pakistan. Ben is very concerned about the environment, but not so much about global trade. I would have preferred to buy American, but I came home with 2 bags of tools and supplies for $50. And we car pooled. And shopped not at a big box store.

While Dex was napping, I dragged out the mildly inflated pool carcass, and hooked up the compressor. In ten minutes, I had a camera ready, fully inflated pool! There was much strutting around the backyard by me. It is THAT awesome.

2008-08-06T00:39:00.000-07:00

The members of the Swolen Monkey Showcase comedy group at Emerson College circa 1991. The photo is inspired by the album cover art of The Go-Go's second album, which I can't even remember the name of anymore, but it was the one where they were in towels with face cream.

I'm trying to post this photo to the Swolen Monkey Facebook page and it keeps posting upside down. I had to scan the photo upside down because it of the scanner lid and it's position in my college yearbook. Short of removing the lid or slicing the photo out if the book, I thought perhaps the editing software provided by HP would be good enough to rotate the photo and save. HP blames Facebook for only uploading the original file and not my saved edit, which makes no sense. What makes more sense to me would be encrypting HP software. Either way, pretty pretty Blogger lets me upload it correctly, so I know it can be done.

2008-08-04T14:45:00.000-07:00

Lisa told me about the greatest bachelorette party idea ever, being hosted tonight by none other than our friend Beckers. The party is on a Monday night because the bride-to-be is a make-up artist for "Wicked," which is currently enjoying an extended run here in LA at the Pantages.

Everyone invited is creative professionally, either working on the show as crew and cast, or like Lisa and Beckers, live in LA and work in entertainment.

The party theme is Nude Artist Model. That's right, figure drawing class with some young hottie friend of Beckers as the model, with booze and food. And cackling ladies. 8 am figure drawing class in an icy cold art room in snowy Boston would have been mightily improved with margaritas, an 8pm start time and the sultry summer heat!

2008-07-30T09:04:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was a big day around the Johnson house. No, not just the biggest earthquake these parts have seen in ten years, but we turned Dexter's car seat around to face forward. The look of amazement on his face during the short car ride taking Nana to the train station was so great. He had no idea what he was missing.

The earthquake was pretty wild while it was happening, but actually quite the non-event. Which is not a bad thing.

2008-07-20T17:58:00.000-07:00

We are having a technical miracle here in the Johnson house today. Steve has taken on the mighty task of digitizing a lifetime of VHS tapes for his family, and he got the final box of tapes from Carolyn this weekend. On the way home from Santa Barbara we stopped at Fry's Electronics for the necessary equipment.

Here's the miracle part...

Steve hooked up the machines, AND ITS WORKING. He did not have to leave the house for another cord, disk or hard drive.

How awesome is that? So far my favorite video has been heart warming holiday story about Senor Steve and his puppet friend Pacho, played by Jack Halpin.

Dexter Says

2008-07-08T22:13:00.001-07:00

how cute is that?

2008-07-02T14:46:00.000-07:00

I'm having a hard time trying to find a day care solution for Dexter.

The past few weeks all of the Crank Yankers girls have been hard at work on a new pilot for a show. Right now, it looks like it could actually get picked up sometime in the relative near future, and more than likely be union. It would be very nice to be able to get 8 or 10 weeks of union wages and benefits. That would enable us to switch back to MoPic insurance for at least a year, and give Steve some wiggle room if he really wants to leave G4.

That said, Steve does still work full time, so What About Dexter. All of the pre-schools in the neighborhood that I've researched so far need him to be at least 2 years old, which won't happen until next May. If this show goes in the fall, he will be about 18 months old, and falls in the the Infant category. There doesn't seem to be a lot around, at least when it comes to Google and yelp.com.

I did check out the one sponsored by Motion Picture. It was absolutely amazing. It looks like a day care center in the movies. I would kill someone with my bare hands to get Dexter in there. It ain't cheap, but Leonard Nimoy (!) provides financial aid. The total bummer??? On the other side of town. I'm sure it's only 12 miles away, but it took 45 minutes to get there, and not during rush hour. If Steve's work was still over at the old G4 building, it would be perfect, but it's not. There is a waiting list anyway. A list that costs $50 to sign up for, BTW.

The have a new location out in Woodland Hills, but that is also way too far out of the way as well.

The sort of good news is the woman who runs it did tell me that every studio does have one, run by the same company. Too bad I never actually work on the studio lots, but instead end up at the smaller lots in Hollywood. Perhaps I should be gunning for a costume shop job at WB's.

There is a little place run out of someone's house in Echo Park near where we used to live that has been recommended to me, but I would rather Dexter be in a "real" facility if I can help it.

When you google "Infant Day Care" there are many corporate places that come up, I'm just so surprised that NONE of them are around here. Maybe in Burbank? I could drop him off and then loop into Hollywood...