Further Down the Rabbit Hole

new position at work. new apartment. new people. new adventures. 10 minute walk from the hollywood attractions...

i walked up to the boulevard yesterday.

there's a creepy rabbit-man there. not exactly like frank from donnie darko -- he feels much more evil than frank. his costume is filthy. he waves at passerby. i don't know what he's waiting for. he doesn't seem to be collecting money or anything.

but i think if i had children, i'd take them to get like easter pictures taken with the filthy rabbit-man . . . you know, to creep out the relatives.

i bet if that guy keeps sitting there, in a few years, word will spread about him, and he'll be as much an attraction as the chinese theater itself. people will be like "oh yeah, we did the whole hollywood and highland thing, saw the chinese theater, put our hands in all the celebrity handprints, took some pictures at the kodak, pretended we were walking down the red carpet, got a picture with the creepy bunny guy . . . "

people will throw money at him and he'll be rich.

he sits in front of the gap. they might call him "the gap bunny." or "the filthy, evil gap rabbit man"

or they might arrest him next april for handing out poisoned candy at easter time.

but then he might be an undercover cop -- keeping tabs on all the shady hollywood riffraff. busting transvestite hookers and drug dealers. he'd produce a shiny badge from beneath his grungy fur with one paw, and with the other he'd snag his gun. filthy gap rabbit-style justice.

whatever the case, he's the perfect hollywood icon.

it's such a fresh idea: unabashedly and unashamedly displaying your insanity for tourist and local alike -- and not in the clicheed methods of years past; men dressing like female sluts, good-for-nothing actors dressing like comic book characters and superheros and shaking down the poor visitors for change, talking to yourself in public (the shock value there is completely gone what with everyone talking on their bluetooth all the time), and of course dancing wildly in the street.

i hope he makes it onto jimmy kimmel or ryan seacrest or at least the tv guide channel. i don't even know if they still shoot any of that crap up there.

that rabbit should host some show.

The Evil Gap Rabbit Man's Hollywood Glamour Report
or
Disgusting Rabbit's Film and Television News Hour
i don't know.

crusty boulevard bunny-suit man, i salute you. you are a visionary.



in my next blog, i'll discuss why i think life on the island in "Lost" is just like life here in L.A.
i'll call it "Dharma Sharks in Lala Land."

Serendipitousness

so, just by chance, i ran into an old college friend in the middle of Manhattan on sunday. it was good to catch up with him.

then i ran into another old college friend at the Philly international airport on monday afternoon -- just by chance. we had been talking about her at the wedding i was just at. we got to chat for a bit.

then i ran into a friend from Oasis at the Denver airport that evening. we were on the same flight. we hung out at the baggage claim together.

then today, i ran into a woman i used to work with at this production company in Wilmington, NC. she lives in the same building i used to in Sherman Oaks now.

it's a small world. the U.S. is a little village. i usually have one or two of these random encounters each month -- but 4 in 3 days -- wow -- it's getting smaller.

--NMR

Places

so i just got back from the east coast. it was humid.

walking out of the airport was like climbing from a refreshing pool into a 105 degree hot tub.

i miss the culture and history. Philly is amazing. independence hall. the liberty bell. the constitution museum. different churches and temples over 200 years old. i miss the people. some will complain that the city of brotherly love doesn't live up to its name. but if you compare it side by side with los angeles, it passes with flying colors.

next to L.A., the residents of Philadelphia are kinder, more helpful, more polite, more aware of what's going on around them, they drive better, use their horns less. even New Yorkers seem more compassionate than Angelenos.

i feel like if a New Yorker were honking his horn at another driver, and then were given the opportunity to do anything he wanted to that driver -- he might smack him in the face and say something like "Whaddaya doin' ya friggin' idiot!" and i feel like if the same opportunity were given to an Angeleno, he might club the other driver violently and leave him in the street for dead. but that's just me. that's the vibe i get.

I love New York. everything about L.A. seems pretentious, while NYC seems authentic. the people there are a little less 'polished'. but i mean that in a good way.

i went from the rich history of Philadelphia to the simple country living of smalltown central Pennsylvania to the mecca of modern culture and society of New York City to the affluent suburbs of New Jersey.

being among old college friends felt like being among family. for a minute i remembered who i was back then. i felt a joy i haven't felt for a long time. and though the vast majority of them are married and some have children -- many own houses -- i don't envy that like i thought i would. i mean i'm deeply happy for them -- but i just know that's not where i'm supposed to be right now.

worshipping with my old college church friends at this wedding -- after years of being apart -- was awesome. it's like we never stopped. those wednesday nights in the frizzel room in eisenhower chapel on the Penn State campus in State College in the middle of Pennsylvania -- they just flowed right into last saturday. and last saturday will flow right into this sunday at Oasis . . . in a --(i'd use the word "bittersweet" if it weren't so melodramatic)-- way.

--nmr