826 Valencia Benefit screening of Where the Wild Things Are - San Francisco (and we met Catherine Keener!)

Well sweet holy crap tonight was frigggiiin' AMAAAAZIIIING.



Today was awesome and super busy at work, but just another day in the magical world of movies, and as usual I couldn't possibly ask for more. The day then got even more badass, cause from work I took off with Shelly and Matt and we went to the Sony Metreon in downtown San Francisco for the 826Valencia Benefit Screening of the new Spike Jonze/Dave Eggers masterful interpretation of Maurice Sendak's 1964 book, "Where the Wild Things Are"... and it was AWESOME.

The screening was to benefit 826Valencia's creative writing workshops, and it's really cool that they organized to show the movie early and to benefit such a worthy cause.

HOLY CRAP THE MOVIE WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The music was really interesting and indie-y, done by Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. It fit the emotion(s) of the movie really well. Max Records, the tiny star of the movie, was a perfect choice to play the character of Max. He hit the intricacies of complex emotion so incredibly well for such a young actor, and I can't imagine any other "child star" who could have even come close to his performance and powerful portrayal. BRILLIANT. Dave Eggers and Spike Jonze penned the screenplay, which went from Maurice Sendak's 334 (beautifully crafted) words into a complex story of their very own. It stayed true to the book, and at the same time ventured into a whole new realm and explored the emotions of the monsters in a really in-depth and powerful way.

I netflixed the "Work of Director Spike Jonze" DVD last week so I could catch up on my Spike-dom, and I noticed he seemed to use a lot of hand-held camera in his music videos and shorts, and filmed crazy action sequences really clearly and excitingly. That kind of slick filming style was definitely noticeable in the movie and fit the vibe super well.

I won't get into any details about the movie itself for fear of spoiling it for others who have yet to see the movie - suffice it to say, it was FANTASTIC. It was SO intense, tremendously silly and strange and absurd, and at the same time such an interesting and powerful journey... my only complaint? That it doesn't come out in theatres 'till October 16th and I have to wait until then to see it again. :)

Ok, so it gets even better.

At the end of the fantastic movie, there was a 20 or 30 min Q&A session with Spike Jonze, Max Records and Catherine Keener!!!!!!! They talked about the movie and answered some questions from the crowd and told some funny stories about making the movie and crazy things that happened on set, etc. Super awesome.

Ok, and now it gets even better.

After the show we were hanging out at the book table and Matt and Shelly bought a couple of books (Dave Egger's novel interpretation of Where the Wild Things Are, and Shelly bought that and an "Art of" book)...

...and then Catherine Keener just walked out of the theatre, walked right over to us, and said "Hi! Thanks for coming!" I started yapping casually, and said how great it was and how much I enjoyed it, and it took me a moment to realize I was talking to Catherine Keener!! Insane!! Shelly and Matt noticed and came over and we chatted for 5 minutes, it was AMAZING! She did a great job as the Mom in the movie, and she is such a great actress: Synecdoce, NY, 40 year Old with Steve Carrell, Being John Malkovich... she's been in a heck of a lot of great movies. Anyway she was super nice, and I got a stack of compliments from her!!! Haha, talk about make your day... man!! Amazing. I was wearing a "Where the Wild Things Are" shirt, and my Star Wars Ecko hoodie with "fur" in it (kinda looks like a Wild Things costume, so I was rockin' it). Also had my super bright shoes on and she commented on them: She said "Whoa! Those are coooool - who makes those?!" I told her they are Adidas and I'm the only person in America who would by them cause they are like wearing Skittles on your feet. :) Then she said, "I should get a pair!" I said, "Right on!" and she said, "Oh haha, not for me, for my son!" SO AWESOME!! She also "ruffled" the inside of my hooded sweatshirt and said, "Oh, isn't that cool!" and saw my Wild Things shirt and said "That's amazing, how long have you had that for?" I told her a while, and that I've loved the book for a long time and my parents read it to me a super long time ago and it was always one of my favorites. Then we chatted a little more and told her we loved the movie and she did a great job in it. AMAZING!!!!!!!!! It was really nice of her to come and talk to us outside the movie, and you could see all the actors were super tired as I'm sure they're running around a lot doing promotion and stuff for the movie (since it comes out in like 2 weeks)... really, really cool. After we said bye, I kept saying to Matt and Shelly... "Holy crap! We definitely just talked to Catherine Keener for like 5 minutes!" ARGGGGGGGHHHHHHH BEST DAY EVER!!

And that, my friends, is the conclusion of my exciting day. Matt and I ate a ton of junk food at the theater - now it's 11:28pm and all I ate for dinner was a huge popcorn, and a box of milk duds and reese's pieces. Oops. I keep claiming that I'm "still in the negative" for calories this week since I ingested 0 calories over Yom Kippur, but that was on Monday and now it's Wednesday, so I think that argument is starting to wear thin. Haha.

Let the wild rumpus begin!!!!!!!!!!

Pike Place Market in Seattle, and general USA road trippin'

Just saw a friend's photos on Facebook of this place, it looks super awesome: http://www.pikeplacemarket.org

Note to self: go to Seattle, and go to this awesome looking market. I've been aiming to check out Seattle for a while, I guess the "coffee culture" is gonna instantly sell me on the awesomeness of the city. It sounds pretty Canadian-y too (kinda close to the border I guess - haha)?! Just in general I get the vibe that it's a lot like San Francisco too.

I think Seattle is definitely gonna be one of the next cities on the list of "Jutan mini-vacations" in 2010. Eventually gotta get to Washington, DC too and drive into Virginia. Seems like a good idea to make a pilgrimage to Charlottesville, VA (where Dave Matthews Band is from - yes, I'm a nerd), and would be cool to check out Nashville/Memphis... maybe go back to Texas?!

I want to make the most of being in the USA since it's so cool, and it seems like traveling a lot is probably a good idea. I'm not gonna go on any major trips next year (since Japan/South Korea is gonna be a really big trip this year), so I'll prob go for a few more of those 2-night or 3-night adventures like I did in Denver for my birthday this year. Yeahhh travel!

Also - why am I thinking so much about food/farmer's markets?! Well, food tastes pretty darn good after 26-hrs without it (Yom Kippur) :)

Where The Wild Things Are wolf suits

Holy crap this is hilarious and cool.

"Fashion forward" Max wolf suits inspired by Where the Wild Things Are... this is hilarious.

http://weloveyouso.com/2009/09/where-the-wild-things-are-x-opening-ceremony/

Where The Wild Things Are - Early DISNEY CG Animation Test

John Lasseter, you are awesome.

"Got me some Wayfarers"

I am now the official proud owner of the modern polarized remake of the 1952 RayBan Wayfarer.

Yes. You can now safely call me a Hipster.

U.S. racism 'everywhere,' says Dave Matthews

Cool interview of Dave Matthews from CNN:

One more thing...

How INSANELY GOOD is Spike Jonze's "Where the Wild Things Are" gonna be?!??!?!?!??!?!

This is a really cool featurette where Maurice Sendak talks about the book and the adaptation. Man this is gonna be frickin' amazing.

Up late...

Hey all,

Hasn't been much on the blogging front in a while, I've been pretty darn busy with lots and lots (and lots) of different things. Work has been fantastic, very busy, and I'm teaching some classes in the near future which is also keeping me excited and busy. My parents were out here recently and we had a great time, I'll post some photos when I get a chance. Also it was Rosh Hashannah over this past weekend and particularly interesting this year was a concert I went to by The Sway Machinery - a cantorial indie rock band!!!! Super cool and unusual/unique/awesome tunes, and all my friends who came with seemed to really enjoy it too. Rockin'!!

It's funny how "up late" these days means 2am, not 5:30am :) I am SO tired now, I have absolutely NO IDEA how I stayed up so so so so soooo late every night for months on end in '07/'08 (and possibly every year before that) :) In 2009 I'd estimate that I've increased my average sleep amount from 5 hours to probably more like 7 hrs now, and it makes a HUGE difference to many aspects of my work and social/home life. Good (or, dare I say, GREAT) times.

On that note, I better get to bed soon. But tonight was particularly exciting, I booked the South Korea portion of my trip to Japan this year!! It is gonna be SUPER COOL, I am meeting up with a few friends who live there and it should be a somewhat-similar-but-different experience compared to Japan. Can't wait.

Also, I have Netflix now! It ROCKS. I can't believe it took me so long to join it!! Crazy. Anyway it rocks super fierce now, and the streaming for movies with their new "Instant Watch" feature is just amazing. I have my old laptop rigged up to my TV now and I can stream (from some sites, anyway) at 1080p!! Crazy. So if I want to catch up on some Lost episodes now, I can stream them from the ABC.com website at Blu-Ray quality. Pretty SWEET.

Alrighty off to bed. I hope you are all well, and to my J-Crew peeps out there... Shannah Tova and have a happy and healthy new year.

How to Train Your Dragon - Teaser Trailer

My buddy Kurt is working on this movie... check this sweet vibe out!

Rome in a Day

More hot computer scienceness today...

http://grail.cs.washington.edu/rome/

Autodesk Sketchbook on the iPhone

Hottttttttttt.

The Bad Pixels play The Beatles - "Help"

Thanks for posting, Cory!!!!!!!!

Oh this was an awesome show/band/time of our lives ;)


Our band from Alias in 2004 playing some Punked-up Beatles tunes!!!!!!!!!

Japan plans

Still working out lots and lots of details for my upcoming Japan trip! I really reaaaaaaaallly can't wait for the trip, it is going to be so super amazing...

Lots of details still to work out, but I just found and booked a great place to stay in Tokyo which was way cheaper than I expected... pretty sweeeet.

Still gotta work out all the details for visiting South Korea, but those plans are starting to come along well now, too. MAN THIS IS GONNA BE AMAZING.

Just got a ticket for the Studio Ghibli Museum near Tokyo... it will be super cool.

DMB Setlist from Outside Lands

It's been such a busy time lately I haven't had a chance to post the setlist from the Dave show last week. This was SO good. I think it was my 14th DMB show, and the setlist was one of the best. The drums/beats on Stay or Leave was just plain magic, and they played some of my favourites from the new album. Awesome times!!!!!!!

Saturday Aug 29 2009
Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival

Why I Am *
You Might Die Trying *
Don’t Drink the Water *
Stay Or Leave *
Spaceman *
Corn Bread *
Lie In Our Graves *
Alligator Pie *
Shake Me Like a Monkey *
Gravedigger *
Jimi Thing *+
You and Me *
Ants Marching *
Two Step *
__________________

All Along The Watchtower *~
Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) *~

Show Notes:
* Jeff Coffin
+ Members of The Black Eyed Peas
~ Robert Randolph