Starlet

Flat Stanley Meets High School Musical Stars..and more!

    See that little red and blue cut-out boy?  That's Flat Stanley and, thanks to him, we meet all kinds of celebrities!

Pictured here is Ryan Pinkston (star of "Quintuplets" "Punk'd" "College" and coming up in "Ten Things I Hate About you"), Matt Prokop (riding the wave of "High School Musical 3" where he played The Rocket and is hailed as the next generation of the High School Musical phenomenon), Andrew Caldwell (of "Hannah Montana" "College" and soon filming "Fat Kid Rules the World"), Sterling Knight (who has many credits and will star in an upcoming Disney show premiering February) and, of course, Charlotte Barrielle, who is still working on credits!

You don't see Josh Peck of "Josh and Drake" but his dog was right behind these guys...Andrew had been walking him when I ran into him outside our apartment.

You also don't see Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens, who had just driven away before I came around the corner....

Flat Stanley, courtesy of my niece, Rachel Sharda, has just started his Hollywood adventures...look for him meeting all kids of interesting people in his short visit...before I put him in an envelope and mail him, starstruck, back to Ohio.

 

Razorback, a flawless theatre production!

 

Update on how great "Razorback" is....wow!!  The playwrite, John Pollano, actually found my blog and wrote me...can you believe this is LA?  This town can be small and intimate when it counts.  I am so impressed!

Yet another night of fine theatre!  Charlotte is pictured here in front of Theater/Theatre on West Pico in a nasty part of town but who cares?  We ran from car to theatre and back....that's dedication to the art!

This is where the new theatre ensemble, Rogue Machine, have their headquarters.  And their first production, "Razorback," a hysterically funny, suspenseful melodrama of family and the sins of the father, is not to be missed.  It was fabulous.  Although not recommended for children (mine is a theatre fanatic so loved it but it's a bit heavy with toooo much adult language) I would recommend it for everyone else.

Yes another find through www.goldstar.com, our connection to all kinds of events and theatre in LA!  I think this fine production cost us $6!

  Everyone in this flawless cast has extensive theatre, TV and film credits...

Our First Movie Together "CHRISTMAS"

    Isn't it what every Mother needs to share with her daughter?  Roles in a holiday thriller-slasher-straight-to-dvd flick?

Here are a few scenes (darn hard to photograph a screen in pitch black theatre!) from "Christmas," where Charlotte (in green) had a significant role as Young Taylor (many, many flashbacks for hefty screen time) and I had a forgettable 45 seconds (all horrifyingly close shots) as Margaret, the nosy neighbor.

We expected the worst...and it was actually something we could sit through.  Felissa Rose, a well-known horror film star, played the warped and nasty mother, which means three of four people may actually buy the dvd....I get one for free because, frankly, it's not the kind of film I'd pay for!

Photos are stills from movie as well as Charlotte with director (and super nice guy) Novin Shakiba as well as othe rmembers of the cast.

       

Little Stars Karaoke! Every Friday at Sardo's

  It's family friendly karaoke every Friday night at this scuzzy Toluca Lake restaurant called Sardo's.  Fortunately, the kids love it.  Unfortunately, they have a two drink minimum and the margaritas were undrinkable, the wine list pathetic and I didn't even ask about beer. 

As I chant the mantra "I am doing this for my child, I am doing it because she is having fun, I am trying to calm the acid reflux boiling in my stomach...it smells so bad in here, I am doing this for my child...." I notice that while most of the singing is off-key and lyrics are mangled, there are a few bright stars...some kids are funny, some sing beautifully and they all just have fun.

So, I can handle the crappy margaritas on the occasional Karaoke Fridays...

Pictured is Charlotte with her friend, Marina Hermann, as well as a bunch of other kids I don't know but were darned cute.

We Won The Wicked Lottery!

  Third time's a charm, they say!  And, fortunately for our Sonoma County friends, Leeann Sarasy and daughters, Adelaide and Adair, this proved true at the popular Wicked lottery.  Charlotte and I had tried twice before but came up empty...

Arriving at 5:55 PM for the lottery drawing at 6:00 PM, we were just under the wire.  Out of a fairly big crowd, our chances to get two tickets was pretty good (we had five entries between two Moms and three girls), four tickets would be fabulous and five, a mere dream.

Charlotte's name was the third called and, amid wild cheers, we got our two front row tickets for only $25 each.  A couple more names were called, then the lottery organizer was stumped by the next name.  "Hmmmmmmm, is it Abe Laid?", she questioned.  "Is there an Abe Laide here?" 

After no response from the crowd, Adelaide remembered she a pulled a classic Hollywood move.  She went by only one name, much like Madonna, and had simply written "Adelaide," figuring surely there were no other Adelaides in the metropolitan Los Angeles area!

Thank goodness she is a kid so they let the lack of a last name slide and awarded her two front row tickets, giving us a total of four...but we were a party of five!  So, in a supreme effort of sacrifice, I declined and let our visitors and Charlotte get the WIcked experience!  I went home and watched the "Sex and the City" movie on Pay-per-View.... so didn't fare too badly either!

Check out the winners with their witch green "I Won the Wicked Lottery" pins on!

  On Hollywood Boulevard, Adelaide and Adair Sarasy, Charlotte and Thaddeus celebrate their Wicked win!

Last Minute Photo Shoot for Gottschalks...in Fresno??

  A phone call from Ford (Models) on Friday morning set in motion a change to our weekend I could have never anticipated...we went to Fresno, of all places, for a photo shoot for a fairly large department store chain.

Although Ford told us it was 100 miles north of LA, it was a good thing I mapquested Fresno before we went to be...it is actually over 200 miles from LA...so, in the car at 7:30 AM for a 10:30 call time for a shoot that only promised $300!  What were we doing???

But, alas, we got to the studio (actually, weirdly inside the department store) and what fun we had!  The other ten year old models (Emma, also from Sherman Oaks, and Sean, down from San Francsico) and Charlotte had so much fun.  And the mothers actually got along, too.

Anyone who tells you that this business is no fun for kids has never tried it.  It is so freaking easy...not to mention there's a paycheck involved.  At Charlotte's age, there is nothing more fun than hanging out with other kids, having someone play with your hair, another person put on your make-up and still another letting you dress up in fancy clothes!

Of course, the kids have to be professional, listen to the other adults and take direction...but, hey, how hard is that when you are the center of attention?

I cross my fingers we get to go back to Fresno for Gottschalks again...Charlotte ended up working over 7 hours (half of that playing cards or eating lunch) so quite a profitable day on an hourly rate!  And, the best part, Emma, the other size 10 model, actually lives down the street from us and is a sixth grader in the same school as Charlotte - and they are now fast friends.  Next photo shoot we can carpool!

   

James Denton, Mike from "Desperate Housewives" on stage!

  Wow!  Can you imagine sitting in a small theatre with about 20 other people watching handsome, rugged James Denton and an incredibly talented cast performing an original play about the troubled upbringing of a little girl who was kidnapped and sexually molested as an infant.

Erin O'Brien, playing the mother of Cissy, is actually the real life wife of James Denton, and they played a redneck, alcoholic, struggling couple on stage.  Cissy, played by a fresh and real Liz Vital, was a knock-out.  The entire play, although dramatic, had a good measure of comedy, and true remarkable performances.

The actors moved the set around themselves between each brief scene, as the story jumped from present day to the time of Cissy's infancy.  At first, a bit hard to follow, the story was woven to present the emotions, lies, deceits, and joys of the main characters at different times throughout their lives together.

I thought it was perfect and Charlotte loved it, too.  The El Portal Theatre in NOrth Hollyoowd was so tiny, I could have stuck out my foot, tripped James Denton and caught him in my lap...but I refrained....so amazed that this kind of theatre is available every night in LA...and not wanting it to end.

 

Another audition for Spike TV....

My one claim to commercial fame was on Spike TV, a hip network under the MTV mantle designed for men in their twenties and thirties, which, of course, I had never seen until they paid me to actually appear on it.  Now, back again, I have an audition in an hour for said mens network.  This just means that all of my friends, mothers in their forties, will just have to take my word that I've actually done something here in Hollywood! 

Update:  What a cool place to work!  They let me take photos (they also own Gametrailers so there are video games everywhere) and gave me a brief tour....now if they'd just give me the job!  Below is Sean who auditioned me.  He played a crass lowlife meeting his girlfriend's parents for the first time!  I played the shocked and disgusted mother!

Follow the Lights...to Jay - Z!

  I don't know what the proper name is for those huge floodlights that send beams into the sky that can be seen for miles around....but I just have to follow them.   It's become a sport.  Usually we end up at some interesting or exotic event.  Occasionally, they are actually flooding the sky for an event we are attending...even more exciting.  But, one time we ended up at a senior prom in Century City.  That is so LA.

Last night, on the way to a screening of "The Secret Life of Bees" we saw the lights again, piercing the sky with their "you wanna be here" beams.  With a few minutes to kill, we drove down Sunset Boulevard to see that Jay-Z was premiering at The Palladium, full red carpet and all.  I guess that means girlfriend Beyonce was supposed to show!

The Buzz...."Secret Life of Bees" is a must see!

    There is always something to do in Hollywood..just look for it!  I just happened to stumble on the invitation to this AFI screening of "The Secret Life of Bees" followed by Q and A with director Gina Prince-Blythewood and producer Joe Picharello (a white guy who's become known for producing great films with black casts!).

Although heading out to movies on a school night is a no-no, sometimes you just have to bend the rules.  Charlotte brought her homework with and we headed to the ArcLight Hollywood after a rousing hour of fencing.  EVen Charlotte would agree that a little lack of sleep justified the opportunity to see this magical film before its release.  She was still deeply moved on the ride home which is something in this world of instant gratification and mind-numbing electronic stimulation (yes, I hate video games).

Dakota Fanning plays Lily, a girl who has tragically lost her mother but finds the gift of encompassing love through not one, but a group of mothers, all African-American, at a time in history when the civil rights movement was at its most tenuous.  How did three women who got their starts singing (Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys and Jennifer Hudson) learn to act so convincingly?!  And this was not a musical....a little hymn singing was about all we got, but all three singers, along with actress Sophie Okenedo, held their own.  Dakota Fanning showed she has staying power into her teens.

Made for a mere $11 million, this was a production primarily driven by spirit and the need to tell a story.  Yes, a chick flick, but it's been a while since we've had one truly worth seeing.