Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Ten (plus) things I've done you probably haven't

Scalzi started this, damn him, so I'm now caught up in the meme. Nothing especially atheisty, but entertaining all the same. What are yours?

  1. Attended a Beduin Arab wedding in the middle of the desert in the UAE.
  2. Driven round and round Loch Ness with my family looking for the monster, to no avail. (Stupid monster.)
  3. Met XTC.
  4. Sailed first class on the QE2 from Southampton to New York.
  5. Sailed on the Persian Gulf in a fishing dhow.
  6. Spent ten years as a comic book artist.
  7. Hung out with Billy Bob Thornton at his rented house during shooting of The Alamo.
  8. Been an assistant director on several independent films.
  9. Hung out with Ron Livingston in the backyard of a house during one of those film shoots, while his fiancee Lisa Sheridan did scenes inside.
  10. Worked as a driver on the most recent season of The Bachelor.
  11. Met Terry Gilliam in the 80’s while still in film school, where he came to talk about the controversy surrounding the just-released Brazil.
  12. Cockblocked Nic Cage. (Details by request only.)
  13. Played with a leopard cub.
  14. Married a topless dancer. Then divorced her.
  15. Hosted an atheist TV show.

I was going to add “Hung out with Quentin Tarantino,” but then realized that probably two-thirds of Austin has done that, so I left it off.

9 comments:

  1. I have to hear the cockblock tale.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I can't come up with one thing that even comes close to any of your fifteen. And I didn't think I could feel any more depressed about my life. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  3. P-Momma: Weellll, it's like this.

    Nic Cage, Matt Modine and director Alan Parker came to one of my film classes at the U of Houston in 1985, to plug Parker's film Birdy, a really interesting early movie for both actors you ought to rent. Both of them were really young and new to the biz at the time, and I recall Cage seemed especially nervous before the class at first, until he made us all laugh a few times and he lightened up.

    Anyway, after the class, I was making the rounds shaking their hands and thanking them for coming like everyone else. I happened to barge in on Cage right at the second he was letting one of the hotter chicks in the class know, just FYI and all that, that he was staying at the Four Seasons until the weekend. She giggled and walked off.

    Not one for good timing, me.

    Now you have to share, P-Momma. Fair's fair.


    nal: Hey, that's one! Keep going.

    ReplyDelete
  4. 1. Insulted Chevy Chase while he was shooting European Vacation.
    2. Spent a new years celebration in Naples- it was like a war zone with all the unregulated fireworks shot out of peoples garages.
    3. Pissed off a Morman representative at the 2004 Olympics because an atheist (me) knew more about her holy book than she did.
    4. Went in to East Berlin through Checkpoint Charlie.
    5. Proposed to my wife on the island where they shot "Castaway."
    6. Went to a disco in mainland China.
    7. Spent sixteen years working on visual effects in movies.
    8. Offended Sarah Michelle Gellar and almost got smacked by Freddie Prinze Jr.
    9. Been to all the Disney theme parks around the world.
    10. Am generally satisfied with my life!

    ReplyDelete
  5. She giggled and walked off.

    Not one for good timing, me.

    Now you have to share, P-Momma. Fair's fair.

    Wow!! That's quite a story. LOL
    Wasn't that shortly after his Raising Arizona phase?

    I'll share. I'll go do it right now. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I loved SMG in Cruel Intentions .

    ReplyDelete
  7. spajadigit:

    8. Offended Sarah Michelle Gellar and almost got smacked by Freddie Prinze Jr.

    Details, please.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I had no idea who she was. All I knew was there was this cute woman across the restaurant and I kept glancing at her during my dinner. She was eating with a small group of people, and this guy sitting next to her kept looking at ME, getting a little angry.

    I maintain I didn't know who she was, but she was really good looking.

    They got up to leave, and she came over to our table, and I smiled at her. Then I went back to eating and talking to my friend. She stood there for about forty seconds, and then made a little sound and huffed away. The guy who had been giving me angry looks slammed his hand down on the table, which of course made me look at him, and he was REALLY pissed. If I had said something, he probably would have hit me. But I just started eating again. He left too.

    My buddy had been watching the events unfold, and said, "dude- do you know who that was?" and I said, "no, but she was pretty hot." He said "dude! that was Sarah Michelle Gellar and that guy who wanted to smack you was her boyfriend Freddie! I think she thought you wanted her autograph!"

    Ironically, I still didn't know who she was and it wasn't until a few months later that I actually found out- since I don't watch TV, I didn't realize she was the star of Buffy.

    ReplyDelete

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