My blog is very important to me, I've had it for over three and a half years after all, it's chronicled my life during grad school and dating in New York City to being engaged in Los Angeles. Blogging is a source of refuge for me. So, I guess in that way it is self-serving.
Also, it keeps me creative and up on the whole Web 2.o buzzword and that's advantageous for my job in public relations and my past career in journalism.
Plus, I earn a few extra bucks from it via the ads on the left of the page. Emphasis though on the few--I'm not quitting my job anytime soon, it just supports my eBay habit really.
So yes, it hurt when a friend told me she thought my blog was very self-promoting. Well, I don't mean it to be. I just try to share my adventures. My family and some of my friends especially like my blog because they can keep tabs on me and see what I'm up to. For others I think they like getting ideas for places to go and things to see, some free giveaways and a quick distraction.
In the past I've received emails from strangers who said they like what I have to say or how I say it at least. I get a good amount of visitors and a few flattering email stalkers. So, in that regards my blog isn't completely self-serving, right? Hell, there have been plenty of times when I've wanted to just let it die away, but after this many years of documenting everything, I'm just too used to looking at things in two ways, stuff I can blog about and stuff I can't. As a result, my camera phone is never too far from reach, ready to capture just the right photo to go with the moment and to help illustrate my post so it's not just words like this one is. The fact that I'm blogging about a stupid comment that was made to hurt me, shows how addicted I am. I can't stop...don't want to. Thanks for reading.
LA Blog Network
"easy, light, and a refreshing voice in the over populated blogging world... my guess is Tara will have a long list of loyal readers."
-The Weblog Review
Are blogs self-serving?
Family Guy Giveaway
So all this week, May 5-9, KTLA (the local Los Angeles TV station) is giving away a Wii every day. Just watch between 6 and 7 p.m. during reruns of Family Guy on KTLA for a codeword that can win you a Wii! For more info, go to www.ktla.com/wii
Tribeca: War, Inc after party
Thanks to IGotShotGun.com, I was able to attend the Cadillac Lounge after party at Tenjune on Little West 12th Street (a block away from where I used to live) for the satire film War, Inc., which premeired at Tribeca. It stars John Cusack (who also wrote the screenplay), Hillary Duff, Marisa Tomei, Sir Ben Kingsley and Joan Cusack. However, the only cast members to appear at the 11 p.m. Tribeca party was Hilary Duff with her sister Hailey, plus the director Joshua Seftel and producer. Everyone was asking “Where’s John?” even celeb guest Chazz Palmanteri asked a PR person if he was there too. Apparently he had a filming conflict or something.
Luckily, I was the only one to interview Hilary Duff at the after party, beating out several broadcast reporters that were there. I made sure I was on the other side of the barricade and the first in line after the still photos. My other "in" was that I was wearing her perfume With Love. She was very cute and pretty in her black strapless dress with a bow on top and in her black pumps. She was about my height (5’2) too. I couldn’t help but notice that War, Inc seemed very different than the other films that she’s been in, IE she went from Disney and Cheaper by the Dozen to this political satire where she plays an oversexed pop star, Yonica Babyyeah, so I had to ask her about that too.
I went on to speak with the director Joshua Seftel who said the film was shot in Bulgaria and made to look like Turaqistan, which is the fictional war town where the film is set, however he was a bit abrasive in his responses.
The producer was there too, but yeah whatever, I didn’t bother. It was rainy and late, so I can’t really blame the rest of the cast for not being there especially since they just did the red carpet screening hours before. Too bad about Tomei though, I was going to do my best My Cousin Vinny impression of “I bet the Chinese food here is terrible!”
Walking in with Chazz was Robert Davi, one of the bad guys in the movie The Goonies. I told him "I loved you in Goonies," and he smiled and said "you've seen that?" I responded, "of course!"
Below is the resulting video with Hilary. I had a professional cameraman for this and the IGotShotGun team did the editing, I’m sure you’ll notice the difference:
For a review of the film itself check out my write up at Film School Rejects. Also, more Tribeca interviews can be found on IGotShotGun.com with different interviewers.
Tribeca Closing Night: Speed Racer
Closing the Tribeca Film Festival this year was the anime cartoon inspired action film, Speed Racer from the Wachowski brothers, who created The Matrix trilogy. The film hits theaters on May 9th and stars Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon and Matthew Fox. The premiere’s red carpet was one of the busiest I’ve been to and this time I was definitely way at the end of the press line, however John Goodman was kind enough to speak with me though, as was the young actor Paulie Litt from Hope & Faith and actor Kick Gurry. I also saw and snapped photos/video of Christina Ricci (she’s so tiny), Susan Sarandon, Vincent D'Onofrio and Limp Bizket’s Fred Durst. Stephen Colbert also attended the premier with his family, but he passed by while I was on the phone.
I stayed late again on purpose hoping that Robert DeNiro would once again make an appearance and this time I was ready and grabbed a video of him as he entered the screening. Yay! Below is the final cut, as you can see I got a little fancy by adding in a remixed version of the Speed Racer theme song, which also helped reduce the background noise throughout the clips:
The film meanwhile is supposedly more based on the video game and geared towards gamers than it is based on the original cartoon.
Gypsy
Besides Curtains, I bought some scalped tickets on the street to the musical production of Gypsy starring Broadway diva Patti LuPone famous from her Tony winning performance in Evita and her special guest appearance on Will & Grace. My seat, however, was literally the last seat in the house on the second balcony, I had to lean forward to see everything and for the second act I sat on the top of my seat.
Set during the vaudeville era, Gypsy is about the ultimate pushy stage mom, Rose, traveling the country with her two daughters, June and Louise, and their manager, Herbie. While June and Louise wish their mother would settle down and marry , Rose continues to pursue dreams of stardom for her girls...and for the dreams she never got to pursue. When June deserts the act, Rose turns her attention to the shy Louise, whom she hopes to fashion into a star. When the act is booked into a burlesque house by mistake, Louise is forced on the stage to strip and dancer Gypsy Rose Lee is born. Famous songs include "Let Me Entertain You," and "Everything's Turning Up Roses." The songs are catchy and I've been singing "So let me entertain you, let me make you smile, And we'll have a real good time..." since I left the theater. One year shy of its 50th anniversary, I think Gypsy is more for female audiences though.
I had always regretted not seeing Gypsy back when Bernadette Peters was in the starring role of Mama Rose, which is considered one of the greatest and most difficult roles for a musical theater actress. As a result, I couldn't help picturing throughout the show how Peters would do each scene. However, that's not to say LuPone wasn't good as the leading lady, she just wasn't as cute, lol. The famous final scene where she sings "Rose's Turn" she more than wowed me with her strong and emotional singing. In fact, I got teary. For a video of this scene check out the clip on YouTube.
Giveaway: The Flip camcorder
With YouTube receiving seven hours of video every minute of every day, everyone is getting in on the online video sharing craze. This Mother's Day make Mom the hippest mom on the block by giving her the new easy-to-use Flip camcorder. I've blogged about the tiny and easy to use camcorder before (here) and have been using it to film my coverage of Tribeca this week.
Basically its an easy and affordable way for mom or anyone to capture and share video memories. The pocket-sized cam fits easily into pocket or purse and can be carried everywhere, plus comes in fun colors like orange and pink. Their onboard software makes it a snap to upload video directly to YouTube, email video or send personalized greetings. There's even a clear underwater case available for filming under the waves at the pool and beach, which I've added to my bridal shower registry, lol.
Now how do you get one too? Well, the great people at Pure Digital, the makers of The Flip camcorder is giving me a Flip Ultra with 60 minute record time to give to one of you. The camcorder sells for $132 on Amazon and I'll also throw in some When Tara Met Blog goodies like a t-shirt in this giveaway. Excited? OK now to win, just post a comment here with your email address (If I don't know how to contact you already or if a blog link isn't provided) along with a quick suggestion of what video content you'd like to see on my blog in the future, IE me filming the beach for those not in L.A., more interviews, no video--you hate it, etc. Good luck! I'll be drawing a lucky winner on Sunday evening.
Update: Congrats to ProudPapa on winning the Flip camcorder, enjoy filming your boy!
Curtains on Broadway
One of the big things that I miss about NYC is Broadway. I used to know all about the latest shows and would go quite often, but now I'm so out of the loop. I did however get to see Curtains, staring Frasier's David Hyde Pierce who I love and apparently the Tony's do too since he won for Best Actor in a Musical, 2007. The show opened last March but unfortunately will be closing on June 29th so do see it while you can.
Curtains is part murder mystery and part backstage musical. The show unfolds backstage at a Boston theater in 1959, where a new musical could be a Broadway smash, were it not for the presence of its talent-free leading lady. When the hapless star dies on opening night during her curtain call, Lieutenant Frank Cioffi (Pierce) arrives on the scene to conduct an investigation. But the lure of the theater proves irresistible and after an unexpected romance blooms for the stage-struck detective, he finds himself just as drawn toward making the show a hit, as he is in solving the murder.
David has a beautiful voice and is definitely charismatic on stage. His accent, a mixture of a Bostonian and 50s cop talk, is pretty impressive, very unlike his Niles voice and never wavered. He even sang in the accent. Anyway, I'm a huge fan of his so I'm sure I would have liked his performance no mater what, but he did exceed my high expectations. After the show, I waited outside by the stage door hoping to see him leave and was rewarded with a signed playbill and a photograph. I told him I loved his performance and owned every season of Frasier on DVD. He was super sweet and stayed to greet each person waiting in line, he even retook a photo with someone after hearing the woman declare that it came out blurry. Really nice of him.
To see the cast perform the song "Show People" check out this clip.
Tribeca: Tennessee Red Carpet Premiere
Yesterday, an indie film called Tennessee gave its world debut at the Tribeca Film Festival. Directed by Aaron Woodley and written by Russell Schaumburg, Tennessee is an intimate road movie with two brothers traveling to the hometown that they fled as teenagers to find their estranged father. When they are joined by a spirited woman (Mariah Carey) running from her abusive husband, they begin to grow closer and the truth of their journey comes to light. This is Mariah’s first feature film since the disaster that was Glitter. I’m seeing a screening of the film this week, so a longer review will be up at Film School Rejects soon.
In the meantime, I got some inside information on the film from Ethan Peck, the grandson of the famous Gregory Peck, who plays Ellis, one of the brothers in Tennessee. I also got up close and personal with the diva herself, Mariah Carey, who looked professional in her white top and straight hair. She also seemed pretty unphased by all the paparazzi's shouts and microphones being shoved at her. Apparently, according to her response to another reporter she lives nearby Tribeca in walking distance. Other guest celebs in attendance at the red carpet premiere included: Sir Ben Kingsley, Robert DeNiro and Soprano’s Edie Falco. Here’s the resulting inside video that I created:
For more photos, check out my Tribeca Photo Set on Flickr.
Update: The Mother's Day GiveSimple.com Giveaway winner is Katelin from Gorgeous Footsteps in the Sand.
I saw Robert DeNiro
and a dream of mine has finally come true. While at the Tribeca Film Festival today covering the red carpet premiere of Tennessee I got to see stars like Mariah Carey, Ben Kingsley and the great Bobby D, my favorite actor ever. I already finished my interviews and most of the press left the minute Mariah Carey went by. For some reason I was taking my time gathering my stuff and good thing because a last minute suprise arrival was in store for the remaining 15 or so press. Robert DeNiro came walking down, gray hair and in a nice suit. I swear I was stunned and I ran back to my spot to get a photo, however in my haste I stupidly hit the stop button instead of record. I'm kicking myself now because when I daringly yelled out "Bobby" to him, he looked right at me, smiled, nodded his head and continued on into the theater.
I was freaking out. My cameraman said I looked like a little girl and that my voice went all high pitch. I started crying after he walked by. I know this sounds pathetic, but I swear this is literally a dream come true for me and I cursed like a truck driver when I realized I messed up on the video. I would have had a video of him staring right at me, dammit!!! Anyway, it was still awesome. I'm so surprised he was even there since he's known to be reclusive despite the fact that he was the founder of the festival and for rebuilding so much of the Tribeca area in Manhattan. It doesn't help that he looks so much like my deceased father, for a second it felt like my dad was smiling and nodding at me. In fact, my dad often got mistaken for Robert DeNiro when he was younger a la Midnight Run time. Once we were at the airport and someone asked him for his autograph, instead of clarifying that he wasn't the actor, my dad signed the paper Bobby D, lol. After seeing him I was elated for awhile and then it felt like I was coming off a sugar high. Hell, this whole post is just an elated mess.
Update: I saw him again and this time I got video (see Speed Racer post), however it wasn't as intimate of a moment though ;)
Pinkberry opens 50th store
Just three years after the first Pinkberry frozen-yogurt shop took Los Angeles by storm, the company celebrated the grand opening of its 50th location at Fashion Island in Newport Beach today and I was in attendance as were lines of other fans.
Pinkberry co-founders Shelly Hwang and Young Lee were also there for the grand opening event and were serving up their tangy non-fat frozen yogurt to customers. The company was also giving away exclusive Newport Beach Pinkberry t-shirts to the first 200 customers that ordered yogurt, thus the lines. Also, all the proceeds from the grand opening are going to The Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation. Pretty nice.
Despite rumors from competitors and misreported articles and blog posts, Pinkberry’s recipe contains real yogurt with live and active cultures and is certified by the National Yogurt Association. Their yogurt isn't "all-natural" since their recipe contains some FDA approved additives as reported recently by The New York Times, however it IS yogurt, non-fat, low calaroie, contains live and active cultures and is a good source of calcium--what more do people want?
The first time I tasted their fro-yo I wasn't prepared for the tart and tangy taste since I was always used to frozen yogurt that tasted more like ice cream, however their frozen-yogurt tastes more like yogurt. Now, however, I'm addicted. I took my mom twice while she was out here and went four times last week!!
For those in the know, they have some secret menu options like In and Out Burger does, for example my favorite is ordering their off the menu topping, Mochi. It's a gooey rice ball but it tastes like marshmallow, I love it! So I usually get their original flavor with fresh pineapple and mochi. Another secret menu ordering tip is that you can ask for any Pinkberry flavor to be swirled with another, yet this isn't noted on their menu. So, the next time you go, you can order one of these options and seem like a regular ;) Unfortunately they only have stores in NY and the Los Angeles area right now, but they have plans to continue to open in other areas.
Here are some photos of the shirts, lines, and a photo of me with the Pinkberry CEO:
Its mold news
So our condo has mold, well not our unit but our neighbor’s, but since they share a wall with us we now have it too. They had an undetected leak for some time. We smelt the moldy smell awhile ago, but it has since grown stronger. It was our questions that even alerted them to the problem to begin with—a leaky pipe in their bathroom vanity unit, which is aligned with ours. The vanity we just put a new granite countertop on. Anyway, the leak was so bad on their side that their wooden cabinets were corroded. They used our carpenter to repair their set and figured that was that, however as I mentioned the smell got worse on our side. So bad that poor Raphael has been getting the brut of it by sniffling, coughing severely and has even had to sleep out on the couch to escape the fumes. Apparently, if you are allergic to mold it affects you more and we just discovered that he must be, since it doesn’t really bother me, I just wake up a bit congested. I can definitely smell it though.
We had the carpenter open a hole in the wall from our side and discovered mold all over the sheetrock, thus their leak had spread to the walls. We sprayed some bleach to kill it but now he has to repair the sheetrock from their side and hopefully that does the trick! Our neighbors though aren’t well off, in fact, the husband is mentally handicapped, so it’s really an unfortunate situation and it also sucks that we’re suffering from a leak that we didn’t even cause. In the meantime, we have the windows open and a fan on at all times blowing the mold spores out. Yeah, so that’s what I’ve been dealing with the last few days. Who knew mold could be so problematic?
We’ll be away next week, I’m going to be working from the NY office and covering the Tribeca Film Festival again as press (did so back in 2006 too), so hopefully all the mold airs out while we are gone. Stay tuned to my blog for Tribeca coverage next week and I’ll be having another exciting giveaway this time for a Flip camcorder!
The Governator
While staffing a pro bono event this morning for the LA Free Clinic I got to see Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and hear him address the crowd.
The LA Free Clinic unveiled its new name, The Saban Free Clinic after celebrating its largest donation in its 40-year history, a $10 million endowment from philanthropists Cheryl Saban PhD and Haim Saban. Turns out Mrs. Saban once turned to the free clinic when she didn't have insurance and needed medical care and now that she's in a position to give back, she is, $10 million dollars worth, wow!
Hearing Arnold up at the podium during the program with his unmistakable voice, I felt like I was on a set of a movie or in a movie. Scenes of Kindergarten Cop, Terminator, Total Recall and Twins fluttered through my brain and I could picture being in the theater with my dad when I first became a fan of the actor. Yet, this was real life, although during his speech, the Governor/Actor dressed in a grayish blue pinstripe suit did revert back to a caricature of himself by restating his popular line "I'll be back!" He's also bulked down a lot and is looking older now, yet still very charismatic and powerful. Take a look:
Also in the crowd was clinic supporter and Will & Grace actor, Sean Hayes. I didn't speak to him but often crossed his path during my runnings around for the press check-in, in fact I did get to say "excuse me" as I dashed in front of him. From a distance I snapped the following photos:
