The End of 2009

Last year I started this Blog. Last year at Christmas (2008), I started this blog. I thought to myself, I am going to post something every week. It was supposed to be a year full of posts... Alas, I have not kept up with my promise.


The month of December 2009, was full of unexpected adventures. I spent an evening with Dexter fans and friends at the DEXTER Season 4 Finale Party.


And another full day at Disneyland. Most of the day at Disneyland involved me and my 3 friends trying on a variety of hats (occasionally we went on a ride, but we had fun).

I was unable to go home for Christmas, so I spent the holiday in Southern California by myself. I continued my Holiday Movie Marathon.

Today I watched reshoots of the new Nightmare on Elm Street movie starring Jackie Earl Haley as Freddy Krueger.

November 2009 had its highs and lows. My little sister got engaged on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fransisco. And on that same day, my dad went through a surgery that had me on the edge of tears the entire day at work. (He's fine). But still a very emotional day.


I did, however, get to go home to Northern California for Thanksgiving and my birthday. I was able to visit with friends and spend time with my family (though I never got to visit with my niece and nephew). I went to a couple movies: The Blind Side and New Moon. I went to a couple of my favorite local restaurants (Shout out to: La Comida & Italian Cottage).

Also in November, WB Softball team: Wrath of Kahn. We started our games in November and they are supposed to go through February. It's something new to do outside of work and a great way to socialize with my coworkers.

October 31, 2009 was probably the most exciting day of the month. Dressed up like a waitress from Merlotte's and joined my friends, Mute and Crowe at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery to watch "Halloween."

September is when the WB lot starts to pick up. During the summer, all the fall TV shows are on hiatus and not much is going on. But during this month, me and a couple of friends started to have dinner every Friday night. It was something to look forward to after a long work week.

August: Valentine's Day was filming on the lot. Saw Anne Hathaway riding a Vespa, Garry Marshall heading to set, Carter Jenkins outside of Stage 19 and a few background extras.

July: The big EVENT of the month was going to Grauman's Chinese Theater and seeing Harry Potter 6 with friends before the movie was released to the general public. The movie was free and we also got free soda and popcorn.

June: I got to go home to Chico for a week at the beginning of the month. I went home to see my niece graduate from Junior High School. I also went with my Grandma to have lunch in Corning with some cousins. And I got to hang out with my old Wise Owl coworkers, Char & Kier.
I also volunteered my time at the WB Lot Sale. Very cool event. The WB puts on a huge garage sale every couple of years and sells props, costumes, and furniture from their TV shows and movies. I bought a couple of plates and mugs (Legally Mad).


In May, I went to a Media Focus Group for The Mentalist. It was interesting, I got to put my 2 cents in on my thoughts and feelings about the characters and their back stories, etc. I also was supposed to go to the Ellen DeGeneres Back Lot bash, but unfortunately, my friends and I got turned away because they invited too many people to the event.

There were a lot of fun events in the month of April. To start the month off, I attended the unveiling of the new WB Animation Mural featuring DC Comics Superheroes & Villains (as well as some Looney Tunes characters & Scooby-Doo). Mario Lopez hosted it, America's Best Dance Crew danced at it and Julie Newmar posed for pictures at the event.

I also had a lot of car trouble during this month. Spent almost 2 weeks without a car, fortunately for me, I have great friends down here.

I happened to meet an Academy-Award winning editor by chance too. He is super nice and has allowed me to come into his office and watch him edit episodes of the TV show that he works on. Those have been some Awesome Days.
As well as, LA Times Book Fair at UCLA and "Mammia Mia" at the Pantages Theater.

March: It's PILOT SEASON on the WB Lot. Lots of sets being constructed and shows being cast, and filming being done. Watched a lot of the production of a David E. Kelley pilot called "Legally Mad," starring Kristin Chenoweth being done on the lot (sadly, it did not get picked up, so I don't know what the end result looked like).

The 15th and finale season of the NBC medical drama, "ER" comes to an end, complete with a Stage 11 Dedication. Almost every major leading star comes back to the show for the finale season, even that guy, what's his name, with the salt-n-pepper hair... oh, yeah, George Clooney.


Went with friends down to San Diego to see "Rent" on stage. And went with Mute to a book signing in North Hollywood.


February: Watched A LOT of filming of 2 of my favorite WB shows: CHUCK and The Mentalist. Also my roommate got a Wii for his birthday, so there were a lot of Wii tournaments in the house during this month.



To start of the 2009 New Year, in the month of January, I got my first up close look at The Mentalist filming one Friday evening, when they were filming outside of Central Perk on the WB lot. I spent approximately 2 hours watching them film a scene that ended up being only a few minutes in the episode "Scarlett Fever." It was fascinating to watch Simon Baker go from an American accent while doing scenes to his own Australian accent in between takes.



I also attended my first LA Clippers Basketball game with coworkers after a long and intensive day of inventory at work. They won!


On the 20th of January, Barack Obama was sworn in as the President of the United States. And I attended my first live taping of a TV show: The Big Bang Theory.

And that is a little of what I experienced this past year, what I saw this past year, etc.

Trailer Review: Movies for 2010

Here I am on Christmas Eve, alone in my room, alone in my house... and what am I doing?

First I was listening to Christmas music while surfing the Internet. Then I reminded myself that I wanted to watch some Movie Trailers for upcoming films. So here are my reviews of the trailers and kind of what I hope to expect from the films.

The new Garry Marshall film, VALENTINE'S DAY has an all-star cast and looks like it could be a 'Love Actually' film for the February holiday. "A day in the life of love." It looks absolutely cute and I am hoping it is more like 'Love Actually' and less like 'He's Just Not That Into You.' I have always loved intertwining stories and how they get woven together to form a whole story. I am excited to see this film, one reason is because they filmed on the WB lot and I got to see Mr. Marshall walking around outside Stage 19 where most of their scenes were filmed. I also saw Hector Elizondo heading to set in a golf cart and Anne Hathaway heading to set on a pink Vespa. I hope it's good, but then again I do like pretty much all Garry Marshall films.
In theaters February 12, 2010


The new Tim Burton film, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, starring Johnny Depp looks dark, disturbing and very Entertaining. From the trailer, it looks like what I expect from a Tim Burton film: the music and the cast are very familiar. Along with the askew look of things: the bright colors, the big heads, the cinematography. I look forward to see this adaptation of such a classic Disney film.
In theaters March 5, 2010


I am definitely excited to see THE BACK-UP Plan starring Jennifer Lopez and Alex O'Loughlin. The trailer makes the movie look very cute. I want to see the movie for O'Loughlin and for the fact that part of the movie was filmed on the WB lot this past summer (I work on the lot). I also hear that O'Loughlin is an extremely nice guy and I want to support him as an actor. And he's pretty cute and Australian. So I have some good reasons to go see this film.
In theaters April 16, 2010


Might I say, IRON MAN 2 looks pretty AWESOME. It looks just as entertaining as the first one. Robert Downey Jr. makes playing the role of Tony Stark look like a lot of fun. I am, however, very bummed that Terrence Howard will not be reprising his role of Rhodes. He played the concerned, annoyed friend very well and I will miss him in the new film.
In theaters May 7, 2010


The new ROBIN HOOD film starring Russell Crowe, I am not so sure about. It is directed by Ridley Scott (whom directed Crowe in Gladiator) and to me the 2 films look very similar. But I might have to see it to support Scott Grimes, whom was very nice when he was on ER. But on another note, I am also very fond of Kevin Costner as Robin Hood Prince of Thieves. It was one of my favorite movies when I was little.
In theaters May 14, 2010

SEX & THE CITY 2, I am not so sure about this sequel. Let me first admit, I saw the last film after I had only seen 1 episode of the TV series. I was lost. So I went back and watch all 6 seasons and then re-watched the movie. I liked it much better the second time around. But as for the sequel, even when watching the trailer, I felt like I had no idea what the plot was for the film. I will probably see the sequel because I know the basic background stories for all the characters involved and I'd like to see how Big and Carrie end up, but I am a little nervous for fear of the film bombing miserably.
In theaters May 28, 2010

DEXTER Season 4 Finale Party

On Sunday, December 13th, 2009, I attended an exclusive DEXTER Season Finale Party at the W Hotel in Westwood. AH-MAZ-ING!!!!


Scheduled to appear were Michael C. Hall, John Lithgow, Julie Benz, James Remar and CS Lee. Unfortunately for me and my friend, NK, Michael C. Hall did not make an appearance and if he did it was very, very low key. We did however, get pictures taken with Masuka, and we spotted Julie Benz giving interviews in her lovely dress, as well as exiting the party right before the episode aired. John Lithgow attended and might I add that he is tall.


It was an Awesome event and thanks to me, my friends and I were able to attend. After every DEXTER episode, I head over to the SHOwtime website and check out any videos that might be available or any info I might find about upcoming episodes. It was at this website that I found out about the exclusive finale viewing parties around LA and NYC.


I mentioned it to a couple of friends and BAM!!! We had a group. 5 of us in total went. It was a rainy night, not down pouring but raining just enough to bring out the jackets. Mac, Nirv and I carpooled over to Westwood and arrived around 7 PM, about 2 hours before the event was supposed to start. Two of my friends, Mute and Crowe were already there holding our places in line (for we had the RSVP confirmations under my name).


As soon as we got there, we were let in. Unfortunately for us, we got there a little to late for the fun door prizes (which included Dexter DVDs, Blu-rays and Action figures).


As soon as we got our bearings set and figured out where everything was, we took over an "L" shaped couch, right in front of a nice big flat screen TV, close to a bar, underneath heaters, and well within range of seeing who might be arriving and leaving. We lounged in this area for a little bit, getting up every so often to scope out the surrounding areas. You know, see what we could see.


Free DEXTER themed cocktails were going to be given out starting at 8 PM, so most of us waited until then to start drinking. The themed cocktails included: the Blood Drop, Harry's Code and the Dexter-rita.


C.S. Lee aka Vince Masuka arrived first and was nice enough to take pictures with us. At first, it kind of seemed like he didn't want to be there but he ended up staying until after the show was over. And he was still mingling with other DEXTER enthusiasts when we left the party.



Nirv and I made our way around the restaurant and bar many times. Scoping out the sights, making sure we didn't miss Michael C. Hall. We heard that John Lithgow had arrived and we could see him making his way back to the VIP Lounge area. We tried to snap a pic, but he was moving to fast. Never got a pic of him, they all came out too blurry, so we settled with spotting him from time to time. Next on the arrival list, was Julie Benz aka Rita. She looked lovely in her dress (really filled it out). We got some pics of her. Nirv and I saw her leave before the show officially started. She signed a few autographs. Took a few pictures and told her fans: "Hope you enjoy the show."




Our little "L" shaped couch became a target of many people. The five of us completely lounged over the area. We didn't want to give up an inch, however, when the show finally started we allowed people to join us in our area, because we didn't want them standing in our way. We wanted to be able to enjoy the show without people standing in front of the big screen TV.



The DEXTER finale began promptly at 9pm to the shouts and cheers of all the DEXTER enthusiasts, me included. We all sat there on the edge of our seats throughout the entire broadcast. It was fun to be in an all-around collective audience. To experience the nail-biting season finale as a whole. To listen to the cheers, the gasps, and the sudden quiet as the show's Season 4 finale came to a breath-taking stop. To glance around and realize that NO ONE saw that coming. To see all the tear-stained faces and the sadness of what happened.




But I must admit, it was by far my favorite season of the show yet. John Lithgow did an amazing job creeping out America for a couple months. He was superb as the Trinity Killer. And Michael C. Hall put in one of his most intense performances. It was a KILLER finale and I look forward to what's to come in the next season of DEXTER.