Posts by Benjamin
Live From 2009 Oscar Red Carpet!
There was something oddly normal about standing there in the shadow of The Kodak Theater tonight as Hollywood’s most-celebrated walked Oscar red carpet. Maybe it was the light; the typically sun-dappled, Technicolor California sky was choked with clouds. Maybe it was that I’ve done a few of these before (see also Grammys, VMAs, etc). Or…
Read MoreWho Watches The Watchmen?
I’m popping Excedrin like they’re M&Ms. Worse, I’m washing down my beloved acetaminophen, aspirin and caffeine concoction with a thirteen dollar beer. Aaaaaaaaah, Los Angeles. I landed thirty-two hours ago, and drove straight to the Pacific Design Center where we were taping our movie show, “Spoilers.” Episode two features the cast of “Watchmen,” including Billy…
Read MoreThe Place That We Are In
I’ll admit that I was self-consciously aware of my solitude there in the woods adjacent to Chris and Meg’s Andover, Vermont, weekend house. I knew the silence was to be relished, stored away for safe keeping when I needed it. And so I relished the swish of the snow beneath my shoes, the twitter of…
Read MoreAndover, Vermont (Winter 2009)
The Magic Mountain
What’s the best part about riding an innertube down a mountain with a bunch of giggling eight-year-olds? Feeling twenty-nine years younger. Better yet? Momentarily forgetting those twenty-nine years altogether. Truth is, I didn’t have much business even considering spending the weekend in Vermont. My colleagues were crashing a half-hour Chris Brown and Rihanna special at…
Read MoreA Soundtrack To Bleed To
These are troubled times. While I, for one, endeavor to refrain my steady drumbeat of “change,” and “opportunity,” I find myself struggling home through the cold every night having accomplished nothing on my “To Do” list which typically includes both “Eat Breakfast” and “Eat Lunch.” Forget “Run.” Worse, I wake in the middle of most…
Read MoreSweet Carolina (Or, Living In The Fish-Eyed Lens)
I’ve heard about this sort of thing, but rarely really witnessed it first-hand. I’m at a bar called Brother Jimmy’s on 31st & Lex. Apparently, Murray Hill is the new post-collegiate neighborhood because everyone looks straight out of Central Casting. “Jimmy, get me a dozen Zeta Psis and a coupla’ Tri Delts, stat!” I haven’t…
Read MoreLive From The 2009 Grammy Awards!
Well, kind of. It’s been three years since I last walked the Grammy red carpet. Of course, truth is that I walked the carpet (which was Heineken green, as I recall) well in advance of the actual celebrities. The rest of the night, I was working across the street in a corrugated aluminum trailer. We…
Read MoreWhen I Look At The Stars
The trick to growing up, I think, is retaining enthusiasm. I’m not talking about relinquishing one’s critical faculties, I’m talking about retaining an appreciation of all things. We live in a soundbite-fueled, 24-hour, wide-screen, Technicolor Gotcha! Culture. Mean girls, hipsters, red carpet takedowns, partisan bickering, magazine snarking — it all adds up to something awful.…
Read MoreI Am A Leaver
I’m a knucklehead. I flew to Los Angeles Monday morning for a series of movie studio meetings. No, I’m not going to be in a major motion picture, or contribute a song to a soundtrack. And no, I haven’t found financial backing for “Mister Rogers & Me.” Nah, it’s a work thing. As in, The…
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