Living in LA

Living in Los Angeles is mostly amusing for this reason: last week, Justin and I decided to meet his friends Brian and Lucy for dinner, at the notorious Rainbow Room, which is Mafia-run and full of hair-rock bands looking like they don't care if nobody is looking at them.  Delicious pizza, though: thumbs up!  I ate while watching the table across from me, which consisted of a dapper middle-aged man in a suit, an older man in a windbreaker, and a woman whose face looked like it might have been reconstructed from Play-Doh, had a glass of wine and presumably made plans to have someone whacked.  I could hear the Godfather theme merrily playing in my head.

After dinner, we decided to get a late show of "I love You, Man" at the Grove Theater, which is right around the corner from the Rainbow Room, in the little chi-chi walking district called the Grove, as if it is populated by trees and not by Abercrombie & Fitches.  So we went over there, bought our tickets from the (strangely) Australian-accented ticket machine and settled in.

The movie's great, first of all -- hilarious and painful and there's a Rush cameo in the middle!  It's a bro-love story, a romcom based on two dudes who become best friends.  But the whole thing is a major paen to Los Angeles.  Paul Rudd lives in Silverlake, and drives to work along a street that I had just met an old friend for lunch on  (I leaned over to Justin and said, "I was just there!").  His friend, Jason Segal, lives in Venice and walks along the exact part of the Venice Boardwalk that I took my mom along when she was here (the easiest part to get to).  But the funniest part of the whole thing was when both male characters are looking for a tuxedo, and they are wandering through the Grove...directly past the glittering marquee of the Grove Theater, where we were watching the movie.

It felt like watching Flashdance in Pittsburgh. :)  Except with Rush.

Other than that: still no snow.  Definitely warm.  I'm going to San Francisco in about two weeks, and then back to Pittsburgh.  Then back here.  I'm probably going to my grandfather's 90th birthday in May.  And my gym got a fresh orange juice machine, which squeezes them right in front of you.  When I told Justin, he shook his head and said, "I love California."