Posts Tagged ‘Travel’
Across The Universe
I’ve collected four NBC Universal Visitor Passes (white, blue, yellow and purple, if you’re playing along at home) in my 96 hours on the back lot. They’ve been long hours, some chained to my computer here in the Abbott & Costello Building (a parking lot with one floor of offices, really; also, home to CSI),…
Read MoreLife In Technicolor
The Sheraton Universal City Hotel sits astride a great, cement-covered slab of dirt just over the hill from the Hollywood sign. My tenth-floor, corner room overlooks the San Fernando Valley: Van Nuys, Reseda, Northridge. The 101 is a stream of red and white light winding northward towards the Ventura Highway. Universal Studios — home of…
Read MoreThe Barking Crab
It seems to me that the best experiences in life come at a cost. As uber-rare, stomach churning, temple-throbbing, cold and clammy, cotton-mouthed, bloodshot and dizzy hangovers go, then, Sunday’s was well worth it. Imagine… A dull gray morning yields to a summer afternoon exploring the heron-strewn edges of the Mystic River with dear friends.…
Read MoreHush
I’m a long-time admirer of CBS Sunday Morning, especially the segment before the show’s closing credits when our host (once, Charles Kuralt and now Charles Osgood) transports us somewhere tranquil and scenic for a few, restful moments. Those patiently unfolding natural scenes — from a babbling brook in Arcadia, Maine, to the desert alpinglow of…
Read MoreEbb Tide
By the time I finally got outside and dragged the canoe from the garage to the edge of the marsh, the tide was already receding. The edge of the shore was all honeycombed-mud and half-cracked shells. There would be no boating this morning. I traced the edge of the shore instead, sliding ankle-deep into the…
Read MoreBray’s Island, South Carolina (Spring 2009)
Hollywood Forever
The afternoon before I left for Los Angeles, I walked into my boss’ offices for our weekly meeting. He was turned away from the door, staring at his laptop, captivated by a music video. “Do you know these guys?” he asked. Quick cuts and violent camera movement showed a masked group of lean, totooed, scrappy…
Read MoreLive 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…
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