Going Psycho

Little by little, I am starting to fall in love with this town.

I will be the first to admit, I wasn’t exactly keen on LA. Call me crazy, call me stupid, call me spoiled, but there it is. LA just wasn’t my bag- I had already been there, and it seemed less of a metropolis and more like 70 different suburbs in search of a city. I wanted New York, with its steel and concrete and subways and angry homeless people. And I still do. Though I’ve never lived there, I feel more homesick for that city than for Ohio, truth be told.

But I am also discovering more and greater things about this place. Not living in the valley helps immensely (no offense to those that do). Maybe a big part of it has to do with the weather. Since I have been here, New York has faced monsoons, unbearable heat, earthquakes (wtf?) and now a hurricane. So last night, while everybody was battening down their hatches with candles and beer and parts of the city were being evacuated, I braved the fierce streets of Los Angeles to visit the Hollywood Forever Cemetery to watch Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.

(http://www.cinespia.org/calendar/) is an organization that shows movies in the cemetery every week, randomly chosen. They project the films onto the wall of an old mausoleum and hundreds, if not thousands, of people show up to basically enjoy a nighttime picnic in a cemetery. Buy your tickets and get there early, stake out a good spot, and bring as much beer, snacks, and other organic (hint) substances as you can pack, and enjoy.

Most things in Los Angeles are more glamorous than their counterparts in other places (like Ohio) and the Hollywood forever Cemetery is no exception. Giant palm trees lit at the base send the message that despite being dead, the cemetery’s residents command red-carpet respect. What other tombstone-riddled park could you gaze upon the Hollywood sign in one direction and hop the fence to Paramount Studios in the other?

The weather settled to a very pleasant sixty-six degrees and the movie began. I feel like anyone could have enjoyed the evening, but being a long-time Hitchcock fan only made the experience better. As I sat amid the thousands of other film goers, watching Janet Leigh be slashed to bits in her shower and swatting a few hungry mosquitoes, I noticed the palm trees lining the park and saw one in particular that stood higher than the rest. Stick straight, in fact. Most palm trees have a little bend or sway to them, as if to say, “it’s all chill, man,” and I dig that. But this tree, which stood so tall and so straight, seemed to me like an enthusiastic child with his hand raised to answer the teacher’s questions. It said to me, “Hi! I’m here! You’re here! It’s a wonderful evening, isn’t it?” I like that tree very much. It’s a very happy tree.

And I feel that, finally, I am in a place where it is undeniably obvious that this is where I am supposed to be. I am excited to embark on this great adventure toward fame and fortune and very curious to see how far I get. I am thrilled to have found friends that love to go do cool things, and seek to include me on their adventures. It amazes me that I have only been out here two months and that there is still so much more to come. I imagine that life will not always be this easy, or this fun, but I welcome the challenges ahead and for once feel confident and capable in my ability to deal with the “real world.” I am, you might say, one very happy tree.

Paparazzi

Groupie. Fan girl. Stalker. I've never idolized any celebrity enough to be considered any of those things (Except for maybe Tina Fey). I just never liked the idea of feeding any celebrity's ego to gush over what they do or who they are. I sincerely think, in this business and this city, that it is vital to stay grounded.

That being said, I also don't mind approaching a favorite actor or actress and telling them I admire and respect their work. I think anyone whose job puts them directly in the spotlight is actually a little obligated to be gracious about meeting fans.

So when the cast and crew of one of my all-time favorite TV shows, Community, set up their catering service right outside our office door today, I carefully articulated my thoughts and said, quite eloquently,

"Gluuhhhhh."

This was my very first time meeting someone- anyone- really famous. I met Vanna White once at a hotel, but I was part of a two-hour line to get her autograph, I was around six, and I had no idea who she was. So when I worked up the balls to cross Lucy Park and thrust out my hand to Donald Glover and Joel McHale, it was a little petrifying. Donald was all of the above things I had previously mentioned a celebrity ought to be. Joel kind of hung back and, I could only imagine, silently prayed for us to leave him the f**k alone and let him get on with his lunch. But he too engaged us in conversation, which was very cool.

Then another intern who works with me, Aimee, who only knows Donald as Childish Gambino, looked straight at Joel and said, her smile wide, "Hi! I'm Aimee. What's your name?"

Joel just looked at her. And as our boss Chelsea would later point out, it is actually a little presumptuous to assume that you're famous enough for everyone to know your name (referring back to being a gracious celebrity). Nevertheless, everyone kind of froze for about 9/10 of a second to register this and McHale's next move. He did that half smile thing. waved his hand and said, "I'm Matthew Lillard. From Scream?"

"Oh! Hi, Matt! Aimee beamed as Tatiana, the other intern, looked at Joel with the focused stare she always wears on her face, even while star struck and said, point blank, "No you're not."

So Donald surrendered to some pictures and we chatted for a few minutes before leaving them alone.

Then the rest of the cast came back for dinner, and we were able to snag pictures of/with Gillian Jacobs, Ken Jeong, Alison Brie, and- my personal favorite- Martin Starr, or some of you may know him, Roman from Party Down. My favorite pic was with Ken Jeong, who literally introduced himself, even though he probably knows that we know who he is. "I'm Ken, I'm Ken," he said, taking my hand. "And your name? Emily! So nice to meet you!" Keep it up, Ken, and one day I'll hire you in one of my movies. :)

All in all, it was a pretty amazing experience, but if all goes well, this won't be the last time I meet someone famous. And not all of those famous people will be kind or gracious. But it's great to get these opportunities and see these things. In LA, people are almost as much sightseeing as any other landmark. It's an interesting balance between human and icon, and maybe one day I'll experience that first hand. Until then, I'll just work on my paparazzi pictures.