Six Feet Under

A great TV series. For the uninformed it's about the trials and tribulations of family who own a Los Angeles funeral home called Fisher & Sons. It's a mish mash of interesting people of varying types, sexuality, class, what have you. And each episode starts off with the death of someone who'll be featured in that episode.

Some quibbles though. The David and Keith raising a kid subplot I can do without. I don't like kids and this takes the series into a not so interesting direction. This is an adults show and the less kids, the better.

Claire, Brenda, and Ruth are some interesting characters. Brenda's sexual exploits are a trip. She pretty much engages in every twisted fantasy most would never have the nerve to do. But she's a pretty hot chick so getting what she wants sexually isn't a problem. I think I'm kinda sorta in love with Claire, I have a thing for redheads. I think the perfect mix would be Claire with Brenda's libido. Ruth has come a long way since the series started. She's really grown.

The late Nathaniel Sr. is seen in ghostly flashbacks throughout the series. His character is what I would classify as prototypical Cool Old Guy. It's hard to be a Cool Old Guy, but Nathaniel pulls it off in hearts, clubs, diamonds and spades.

Nate is the center of the Six Feet Under universe. And a character I like a lot. Peter Krause got this gig working with series creator Alan Ball (or American Beauty fame) on the sitcom Cybill. I tried writing a spec script for Cybill (well two actually) and introduced myself to one of the on set writers while trying to get him interested in reading my script. It wasn't Alan Ball though, dangit. The writer I talked to was about as gay as they come, you could tell by the way he perked up while I talked to him. Well, the INSTANT I talked to him he was real friendly. Which is cool. Whatever floats your boat sexually, ya know? Not my thing, but to each their own, baby. Anyways, nothing ever came of the Cybill spec scripts and the show was soon cancelled.

Alan Ball is a real talent and he wisely used composer David Newman from American Beauty to do the Six Feet Under score. Newman doesn't do all the music on the show though. Newman's done some score work on some of my favorite films, The Shawshank Redemption, American Beauty, hell, the list goes on.

Give the Fishers a little of your time. It'll be worth it. Not every episode is a gem, but I haven't seen a truly bad one yet. I don't have HBO so I'm just working my way through the entire second season on DVD at present. Ciao.

Father's Office

One of the best.

If you like good grub and good beer, Father's Office in Santa Monica, California is for you. I heard about this joint from a friend and I've dug it ever since. They've got probably one of the best burgers ever, The Office Burger. The fries come in two types, standard and sweet potato fries. Both served in a miniature wire shopping cart basket!

As for the beers, hell, take your pick. I prefer the reds. My friend (an expatriate of German extraction) hipped me to the darker beers. The blond ales that so many Americans swig pale in comparison to the darks and reds to me.

It can be a real bitch finding a table and the place is LOUD and I mean LOUD in terms of acoustics. On a crowded night it's hard to hear the person sitting next to you. So you gotta speak up. Hell, EVERYONE'S gotta speak up so it's like a mutual shouting competition. But the food, atmosphere, and vast brew selection more than make up for it. You'll find some remnants of the previous ownership of Father's there too, some old Trivial Pursuit games that were there when it was more of a working class joint and not home to the younger, hipper, and sometimes Hollywood industry crowd you see there now. Even a perpetual outsider and uber loner like me feels comfortable there at the FO. They had a great red beer called Kona I dug a lot, now it's gone. Ah, well, always other reds to choose from.

Father's Office is a pretty cool place and not without it's quirks. Everything you order comes to you as is. No substitutions. Oh, you can order it rare, medium, well done, etc. But you can't change what comes on it. There's no condiments either. The chef is a stickler for this. Kinda odd and many patrons take offense at it upon their first visits. But the place is always bustling so most like it that way. The place doesn't offer ketchup either. The fries and burgers come with these sides of a blue cheese like dipping sauce. It takes some getting used to all this but it's worth it if you free your mind to the whole Father's Office experience. Or FO for the hipsters. Dig it.

http://www.fathersoffice.com/html/fathersOffice.html

Feeling A Bit...

Pointless, useless. What have you.

The whole gamit -- or is the word gambit? Not in the mood to check dictionary.com today.

I'm such a moody type. So angry, so bitter, so pissed off. I'm wondering why I can't locate this blog on google.com searches. Wondering what the point of life is.

I'm depressed about having to work for the next two weeks without a day off. This longshoreman gig pays well -- but working six days or seven days a week can be trying.

Hoping my filmmaking gig pays off so I can quit this gig. Still, I shouldn't complain. I'm a lot better off financially than most people. My ex said I had an angel on my shoulder. But it feels as if a devil is biting me on the ass a helluva lot lately.

I've come to the conclusion that I am a sad, unhappy human being incapable of enjoying life. Except for glimpses here and there. I feel like a miserable sack of shit frequently. I'm disgusted and revolted by my personal appearance. And don't get me started on some of the dailies in my latest movie.

Shit -- I look so freakish in some scenes. That's what happens when you don't have a video assist on set. No wonder Jerry Lewis invented the damn thing. Jerry Lewis -- creator of the video assist? How fucked up is that? Shouldn't Kubrick have done it?

A Clockwork Orange. Probably my favorite film of all time. Well, it's either this life or the grave. And the grave scares me too much. Peace.

Open Water

Some user on the Internet Movie Database left an interesting comment on the message board for the movie Open Water. A movie that had a great simple premise, especially from an indie film no budget point of view, but it's shot on digital video and I wish it had been film! I also wanted it to be about ten minutes longer so we could have learned more about the characters. If you haven't seen the movie I suggest you don't read any further.

It's about a couple who get stranded in the middle of the ocean when their diving boat leaves them behind. In the movie the woman doesn't give the husband any nookie the night before their diving trip. And then at the end of the movie the husband dies. Anyways, this poster said the guy didn't die by shark attack, he died from LOP...Lack of Pussy.

Huh. If that's the case than that user's a dead man.

Hero

Saw the new Jet Li film Hero this weekend. Some beautiful imagery. But I really don't care for wire work. Sometimes it works, like the first Matrix movie. Otherwise it usually looks silly. People were tittering in the audience at it. I'd rather see a straight out martial arts mano y mano drag down knock out two fisted smack down rock 'n' roll fisticuffs than all this prancing on wires.

A good fight scene should not look overly staged. As many of the fights do in this and other martial arts films. Sure, all movie fights are staged, but take a look at Kill Bill to see what I mean by a truly cool movie fight.

But, movies, movies. I recently finished shooting my first directorial effort. We start editing soon. Looking at the footage I figure I am going to do some reshoots. Which is a drag, but just a part of the business.

Let's Go

Well, here we are. Alive and kicking and in living color. Welcome to my blog, friend of friends. This is The Longshoreman. The writings and weavings of a young Southern California longshoreman. For the uninformed that's the cats who work down at the docks unloading ships.

In many ways it's a very romantic profession. Images of sailors, vessels from distant lands, burly pissed off dock workers ready to tear each other apart for the mildest slight, the sea, seagulls, Marlon Brando from On The Waterfront (it was you, Charlie, it was you...), the labor movement, strikes, smugglers. All these come to mind when you think of it.

But it really isn't that sexy. Just in books and movies. Speaking of movies, I also make films. I've got two new feature films under my belt. Both comedies, one I wrote, the other I wrote-directed-produced-acted-and-financed. More about that later.

But anyways, stay along for the ride. I promise I'll keep it jazzy for ya here.