Tuesday. Off to the Huntington. Really bloody hot! Lots of fun in the sun with J and monkey.
Went to a screening of The Last King of Scotland in the evening and I have to say that it was incredible. The screenplay, the visuals, the editing & direction and some stellar performances. They captured the period completely and I suspect a little work was done in post using some 1970s colouring techniques because it was spot-on! An amazing film followed by a Q&A with the director, Kevin Macdonald and the lead actor, James McAvoy. Some terrific background to the film and their experiences in Uganda working with people who knew Idi Amin and how the film changed them as people. James McAvoy spoke intelligently on the subject of the Uganda of the 1970s and Idi Amin which showed that he had done exhaustive research which, as a good actor, is essential to your role. He also spoke of the rehearsal process and how it become so much more when they went to Uganda and shot there for 2 months.
The only sad thing is that this film probably won't get the attention it deserves because it doesn't contain talking cars, talking dogs, bodily functions or have anything to do with famous brainless nobodies who wouldn't know what the meaning of life was if it came up and slapped them across the face.

Monday. Class. K and I actually didn't worry about the words for the scene, went thru the moments and had a real conversation, which is exactly what we wanted to do. T wanted to see it mean more to us and work deeper and we told him that that was what we are going to work on next!
J, the monkey and I went off to the Farmers Market. After ice cream and coffee I noticed an old man typing a script on an antiquated laptop with a full-sized keyboard plugged in. I could see on the screen that he had characters called Lord this and Lady that so I asked him if it was a British piece. He asked if I was British and then wham... an intense 20 minute conversation ensued about his script taking 25 years to get it 'just right', a central character playing seven roles, about it being a mix of satire and farce and how he wanted me to be in a staged reading with people from CAA there and how he was going to produce it himself because he wanted to retain full artistic control...And so on. Only in LA! I'll tell you if anything actually happens!
Watched (against my better judgment) Failure to Launch which M had put into the Blockbuster queue. Yes, a very lightweight comedy as I had supposed but with some good performances and a textbook structured screenplay. Not bad.

Book fair...Hot, brutal...Friends in Pasadena for a BBQ...Praying Mantis...Problem like Maria.

Saturday was happy and sad, one might say 'bittersweet' if one was in a cliched mood (which I am at the moment) as it was the day we said goodbye to two of our best friends C & M who are heading back to NY to write and produce projects. Munchkin absolutely adores his Uncle M & Auntie C, they have been the most wonderfully caring and loving couple and it completely sucks that they're leaving. We spent the day bouncing around their (very empty) apartment, eating pizza and looking ahead to successful careers to come for all of us on both coasts! We ended up taking a car full of stuff away with us as they had to throw everything away before they left the apartment and we couldn't bear to see really useful stuff going out in the rubbish. The only piece of furniture left headed out of the door when the guy who had bought it came to get it! A very sad day and we went to Big Bob's to numb the pain.