Running Around!

I’m listening to the B.S. Report now and Bill Simmons and Chad Ford said something really interesting. Simmons said that it’s interesting how we hear all these rumors of potential trades but the ones that actually go down have not been talked about. The Spurs trade for Richard Jefferson being the most timely example. I haven’t heard a peep of this trade. Chad Ford replied that it was a trade that they should’ve saw coming but no one did. The Bucks have been trying to shed payroll so they could re-sign their own free agents and the Spurs have been looking to re-do their team in some way.

I agree with both Simmons and Ford. Way too much chasing of rumors out there and not enough original analysis to figure out what are logical responses to team needs and pressures.

Michael Lewis on Charlie Rose [link] discussing his latest book “Home Game” about fatherhood. Around the 21 minute mark, Lewis talks about the financial crisis. Rose sums up the interview by saying he asked someone the other day, “Who is the best writer on economics?” and the response he got was “Michael Lewis”. I think the argument can easily be made that Michael Lewis is one of the best writers around period.

I just saw “Food Inc.” — a particularly sobering look at how the vast majority of food is made and processed. Highly recommended. I agree with Manohla Dargis’ review [link] that the movie would benefit from greater depth in many areas — but as a primer to someone newer to these issues, I enjoyed it thoroughly and while not shocked at what they presented, was certainly spurred enough to plan on changing my eating habits.

I’ve never wanted to cook. Historically, I’ve somewhat despised cooking. I simply hadn’t the time. You have to buy the food, cook it, and then clean up. How can that possibly compare to eating out or getting take out? Oh yes, you also need to know HOW to cook. Which I did not.

After many many years of this cycle of not cooking (and not even knowing if I owned pots and pans) — I decided to change all this. I suppose I did it for a number of reasons. Certainly my schedule is much more flexible now allowing me time to cook. I also didn’t always want to eat out or get take out. For whatever reason, I’m much more aware in terms of my body and frankly I can feel the tremendous amount of oil and butter restaurants use. I just wanted to eat more healthy. Not just because I’m on some health kick — but I feel better when I do and I like the food just fine. I don’t feel like I’m sacrificing anything.

I’ve tried to learn to cook before — friends, classes, etc. For some reason, never stuck. Never became inspired. Who knows. In New York, one of my favorite restaurants is L’Ecole — the training school for the French Culinary Institute. The food is delicious, meticulously prepared, and very reasonably priced because it’s a training school. Quite a deal.

I was able to find a chef who was trained there who taught cooking privately (believe it or not, I actually convinced FCI to post a notice to their alumni list) who has turned out to be great. After ONE lesson — Laura has already got me cooking meals on my own. Now, I’m not cooking huge meals. Pasta with a very nice fresh summer tomato sauce. Vegetable soup. Gazpacho. Etc. But I’m cooking. I’m a picky eater too and I think it’s reasonably tasty. Not amazing, but I like it. I’ve sure made my fair share of mistakes. Biggest problem currently is I’m using way too much salt.

One of the things I really like thinking about is learning about how I learn. I’m really into the basics. That may sound obvious and silly but I really am. When I was a kid, all I wanted to do was to do it immediately. Now now now. Unfortunately, that turns out to be an easy way to ingrain bad habits which need to be broken later. I also would never realize how good something could be done. Moreover, because I wouldn’t have a strong foundation, I think it actually stunted my creativity because then I didn’t have the foundational elements to branch out from.

So, I was quite excited when Laura said that for the first hour and a half, we would just work on knife skills. ! Well worth it. Well worth it. Sounds ridiculous, but I am way more likely to eat food because I just can prepare food faster. Cut up some fruits? No problem. I think I hit rock bottom when I was buying pre-cut fruit at Whole Foods.

There’s this concept called deliberate practice (I think I read it in Geoff Colvin’s excellent book “Talent is Overrated”). Essentially, conventional wisdom is that to get good at something, you have to practice practice practice. Colvin talks about deliberate practice instead of practice — basically practicing while thinking. Thinking about what you’re doing and how to improve it. I would compare it to me mindlessly preparing recipes and then wondering why my food doesn’t taste good to me methodically preparing recipes and wondering what’s going on each step of the way and why I do what I do and how to improve it. Of course, the flip side is then to have a coach like Laura who you can then ask / use as a resource / teach you / etc. so that you can leverage their skill as an instructor and years of experience.

In any event, Alice Waters has a real nice tomato sauce with bacon and onion in her book “The Art of Simple Food” that I’m going to try out later.

This may sound ridiculous, but I’ve learned to dress much better in the last few years. Growing up, I always wanted to be big, probably because I was short and skinny when I was a kid. Somehow, I got it into my head that if I wore big clothes, I would look bigger. Obviously I looked ridiculous, not bigger, but it was what it was. A few years ago, when my friends Vivian and Gavin came over to take a look at my closet, they literally had me donate bags and bags of oversized clothes — it was pretty mind boggling how few of my clothes actually fit me well.

Vivian took me to Barney’s Co-op the last time I was in New York and so when one of my friends suggested to have lunch at “Barney’s” in Los Angeles, I immediately thought we were going to meet there… Clearly my perspective is getting warped. (and in Vivian’s words, I should really know what Barney’s burgers are. I guess I’ll find out!)

Growing up, there were some seasons that I watched or listen to nearly every single Yankee game. That’s over a 160 games a year. Nearly every one I watched or listened to.

Baseball has steadily corroded my interest in it. I find it incredibly difficult to believe that that is possible at all, but that’s what has happened. It probably started with the growing steroid scandal. McGwire, Sosa, Palmeiro, Clemens — these aren’t just big names, they’re the biggest names. The biggest stars. McGwire and Sosa were once hailed as saving baseball following the crippling 1994 strike. Clemens was hailed as perhaps the best righthanded pitcher since Walter Johnson. Of course, Bonds and Alex Rodriguez. Now Manny.

It wasn’t even so much that they used steroids — though that was bad. It was how they handled everything afterwards. Andy Pettitte is a great example. Pettitte used HGH in trying to recover from an injury. Caught, he fessed up, went through all the details of what he used and why, and took full responsibility. I don’t even think about the fact he got caught using HGH when thinking about Andy Pettitte anymore.

Compare that to the PR playbook of McGwire (not here to talk about the past), or Plameiro and Clemens (utter, unbelievable defiance). Do people believe them? Do they even seem remotely credible? Are their statements inconsistent with what appears to be a mountainous amount of evidence to the contrary? Do they even try and explain that away rather than issue blanket denials with no specificity?

It’s easy to find people to blame in all of this. The player’s union, under Don Fehr, has taken an extreme militant position — an us vs. them mentality that has resulted in their own players becoming villains. Rather than ask, “What’s good for the game of baseball?” — they take the narrowest, shortest term view and ask how they can win an individual skirmish — as if their honor is constantly at stake. The game will be a much better place when Donald Fehr is no longer associated with baseball. The owners and Bud Selig share much of the blame as well. They can claim that they’ve tried hard and that the current steroid policy is the result of their efforts. The more complete answer is that this policy took way too many years to implement and is still too mild. Selig and the owners simply have been bullied by a player’s union that thinks it’s looking after it’s players but instead has literally allowed the reputations of its greatest players to be destroyed. Further, by allowing steroids to flourish for so long, they created a culture where players are frankly pressured to take steroids simply to keep up (see Tour de France.)

Manny Ramirez is probably the best hitter I’ve ever seen. I can’t even imagine holes in his swing. I don’t know how to pitch him. And I’m a Yankees fan. I rooted, year after year, for the Red Sox to tire of Manny and to trade him. I wanted the Yankees to sign him this offseason. He’s a hitting savant. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am. I can’t believe Manny took steroids. I also can’t believe that he has apparently the same idiot PR firms that advise Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez, and Roger Clemens. Maybe he thought that the actual drug he tested positive for would never be released and he could claim it was for a “personal medical problem” and that was that. Sorry Manny. If that’s the case, normal people kick and scream and refuse to lose $8 million and have their reputation permanently tarnished. Oh, and the fact that the drug happens to be one that is commonly used to restart testosterone production after a steroid cycle is finished? Why couldn’t Manny just come right out and fess up? I’d be furious. In time, I imagine that I, like everyone else, would find a way to forgive him. We want to forgive Manny. But not like this.

This atrocious scandal. Ridiculous prices. (don’t even get me started on new Yankee Stadium and how much damage they’ve done to their fan base by the prices they charge.) Complete non-financial parity on any level. Major League Baseball is being collectively run by clowns. They should just hire Roger Goodell to oversee a complete transformation from Clown League back to Major League Baseball.

I just saw the movie Lymelife at Arclight. It’s got a fantastic cast including Alec Baldwin, Jill Hennessy, Timothy Hutton, Cynthia Nixon, Kieran and Rory Culkin, and Emma Roberts (who is actually Eric Roberts’ daughter). I would say across the board the performances were really good and Alec Baldwin, frankly, was just terrific.

Afterwards, one of the producers (Jon Cornick) was available to take questions. Among some of the more interesting things that he mentioned:
–workshopped at Sundance and Kieran was one of the actors who participated in the workshopping of the scenes (who played the younger brother at the workshops but the movie took so long to make, that he ended up playing the older brother in the movie)
–Alec Baldwin was the first to sign on and from the time he signed on to when the movie finally got made, it took an astounding FIVE years
–Alec Baldwin was shooting this movie and 30 Rock simultaneously — so he was working 3 days on 30 Rock and then 4 days on Lymelife for 4 weeks straight. (all the more remarkable when you consider how good his performance was and how little time he likely had to prepare)
–shot in Franklin Lakes / Mahwah, NJ area

It’s funny. This was one of those movies that my friends and I really wanted to see at Sundance but absolutely could not. At Sundance, everything is sold out — especially ANYTHING that has even small names it — forget this cast. Here (and granted, Arclight does a horrible job publicizing when they have guest speakers) — they had the producer available for Q&A afterwards and it played to a very small crowd. I only mention this because I think it’s a real shame.

Movies usually draw me in one of two ways. Either I hear it’s good (certainly friends, but even reviews, high ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, etc.) or I see a compelling trailer. In this case, it was neither. I just like going to these movies with Q&As because I think it’s fascinating hearing how movies come together. I’m sure you haven’t heard of Lymelife — but it’s a good movie. In fact, because I hadn’t heard of it, I will say that I was quite surprised at how good a movie it was. Very enjoyable. Extremely well acted (which was what Manohla Dargis’ said) and really quite a pleasure to watch.

This is a fantastically interesting documentary that just opened this past weekend in NY and LA. It tracks the casting process for the revival of “A Chorus Line”.

While this casting process is for musical theater, it struck me pretty much as exactly the same as what actors go through. When you’re an actor, it’s often hard not to replay your audition in your head, ask what you did right, what you did wrong, etc. Even the most minor things you can get caught up in. It’s like any job interview — only this one has a specialized process. All those minor things really weren’t the deciding factor. What so struck me when watching this documentary was really how simple everything was from the viewpoint of the director and co. You’d see people who you didn’t think was right and they wouldn’t bring them back. You’d see people who were good but you weren’t sure about and they’d get a callback. And then you’d see people who were so good that you didn’t even realize they were acting and performing. They’d get the part.

Bob Avian, the director, also said something really enlightening, I thought. He kept mentioning how important it was that the performer had an immediate likability factor. It’s hard to know what it is — but I don’t think it’s any different than in life. Some people are just nice people that you like and root for. You get that sense immediately. You want to watch these people. I really don’t think this is something you can act because it gets down to the core of who you are. I guess I would put it this way. If you’re a jerk in real life, don’t expect that you can walk into the audition room and pretend like you’re a nice guy. They’ll know immediately you’re a jerk. It’s almost impossible for them not to. They see THOUSANDS of auditions — and that’s just for this production, let alone over the course of a career.

Unfortunately, the cast that was picked for the revival is no longer the same one that’s currently on tour — which is really too bad; I wanted to go out and immediately buy tickets for the next time I’m in NY if the same cast that I saw in the movie was still on Broadway. (and in a very funny coincidence, one of the company members of the current company actually went to my high school) It’s hard not to get attached to (and want to see perform) the cast that was chosen.

In any event — highly recommended documentary. Even for those not in the entertainment field (but maybe just like seeing how things are put together) — “Every Little Step” was just wonderful.

I was able to get tickets to a screening of the new movie Dragonball earlier this week at the Director’s Guild of America (with Q&A with James Wong, the director, and a large portion of the cast afterwards — no Chow Yun-Fat though) My friend Samantha was in town so she and I went.

First off - it was insane getting in. They not only searched us / had us go through a metal detector — and they wouldn’t let us in with our iPhones (because you can take pictures / video on it.) Now, this isn’t a particularly big deal except for the fact that they don’t tell you this ahead of time so you have to run back to your car to deposit your iPhone (and we were already running late.) This was Tuesday. The movie was opening on Friday. I mean, I guess it’s possible someone would take video — but off of their iPhone? That would be horrendous.

The section we were in we were clearly surrounded by members of the crew as they often cheered intermittently throughout the credits. I think one of the funniest things was when Sam noticed a particular pretty girl in a strapless blue dress (clearly the best dressed person there) and pointed her out to me. We later noticed seats open near her and she asked her if they were taken. Apparently that section was reserved. Turns out the girl is Emmy Rossum, one of the stars of the movie

Here’s one of the interesting things if you look up Emmy Rossum on IMDB. She’s 22 but she was in her first TV show in 1997 and her first movie in 2000. There’s this great book by Geoff Colvin called “Talent is Overrated” where he basically breaks down the myth of the prodigy by basically showing that from Tiger Woods to Mozart — people only think they were prodigies because of how young they were when they burst out onto the scene. The reality is that they just were started at a really young age and often bursted out, say, 10 years later. I’m not comparing Emmy Rossum to them but I think a lot of people would probably look at Emmy Rossum and almost think “Wow, she’s so lucky that she gets to have a lead role in a big movie at such a young age.” Well, you know what? She’s been at this for 11 years — it’s not like she was plucked off the street.

I titled this post “What’s Possible” because of a conversation I had with Milton the other day. We were talking about Johnny Depp and what he did as Jack Sparrow for Pirates. When I saw Pirates, I was blown away. This is not a movie I’d expected to see brilliant acting — but I thought he was stunning. Incredibly surprising and inventive choices perfectly executed. Milton said something really interesting about it — he said that Johnny Depp could build Jack Sparrow because he watched people like Brando in The Missouri Breaks so he knew what was possible. Ever since then, I’ve really been running hard to build up my filmography (which was weak to begin with) so that I know what’s possible. 6 movies this past week? Mainly new ones but they include: Sugar, Bart Got A Room, Dragonball, The Great Buck Howard, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, and Rear Window.

I heard Steven Soderbergh speak after a screaming of Schizopolis last year and he said that he has watched one movie every day for the last 14 years. Good movies, new movies, and bad movies. What a library to draw upon.