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I woke up in a cold panic this morning after dreaming that I was kissing Woody Allen.

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On Sundays, the Venice Beach Drum Circle meets on the, uh… beach… and I walked up there this evening to see what was happening. After I located the group and slogged through the dunes, I inhaled the aroma of burning herbs. One man was walking around the circle with a bundle of burning sage, but many more people were lounging in the sand and burning their own things.

As I thought to myself, “This drum circle needs more cowbell,” two cowbell players showed up! What wondrous luck!

A wandering bongo player invited me to join in and play his drum for awhile. Far out.

I called CK to share the love and to tell her that amongst all the revelers was one beautiful shirtless man that seemed her type. Johnny Depp with nipple rings. CK said she loved drum circles for that very reason.

The sun went down over the mountains and the drummers and dancers continued until 9:30 PM when the Lifeguard Patrol busted up the group by driving over and shining their zillion-watt deer hunting lights on everyone.

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Shout out to CK for Happy Birthday wishes!

w00t!

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Three things I did today to break out (successfully) of that funk Bergman laid on me:

1) Walked up to the beach, took off my shoes, parked my giant ass on the sand, propped myself next to my favorite rock and dozed in the warmth of the sun while cool ocean breezes washed over me and Deep Blue Day played through my headphones. +Happy +Relaxing

2) Wandered over to the basketball courts and joined a game. Upon one man’s despair over missing shot after shot, the other man said, “Man, it ain’t nothin’. Look what you got. You’re playing basketball in the middle of the day. You’re standing in the sun on Venice Beach. The Pacific Ocean is at your feet. Other people WISH they had this. It don’t matter if you don’t make that shot.” +Happy +Perspective

3) Saw Star Wars Episode III (again) with a Mystery Science Theater 3000 fan whose commentary managed to make me bust out laughing at the most inappropriate moments. +Happy +Complete Silliness

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Tonight’s big movie feature was Autumn Sonata (Hostsonaten) at the Aero Theater. Just as no one told me about Double Features at the New Beverly Theater, no one told me about Ingmar Bergman films.

I sat there in the second row and became increasingly disenchanted with life in general. The acting was great and the scenes were perfectly shot, but for crap’s sake, the intensity of reality was so harsh that I wanted to open a wrist right there in the theater. As real life played out across the screen, I could only weep and wish for a thermonuclear exchange to occur outside so everyone could be spared life’s pain.

Once the film ended (and really, that’s all that happened… it could well have gone on for hours and hours… it wasn’t “over”), I called CK to tell her I was ready to drive in to the Pacific and end it all. She suggested not watching anymore Bergman films and going to Karaoke night at the Britannia. I can’t say that was entirely helpful, since the songs people chose to sing included SEVERAL from Garth Brooks, Bon Jovi and Eurythmics… each as depressing as the one before.

It’s a good thing tomorrow is Friday. I need to take the entire day off and recover from this whole Bergman downer.

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I went to see Metropolis tonight. Since there’s no stadium seating inside the New Beverly Theater, and since this is a silent movie, I snagged a nice seat in the second row with a clear view of the screen. Then Mr. Tall and his friend, Mr. Giant Hairdo, sat down in front of me, so I had to move over a couple of seats.

Once the film was over, I picked up a calendar of showings for the rest of the month. Too late (meaning that I read the calendar while waiting in line at the Drive Thru of Taco Bell), I discovered that EVERY show at that theater is a double feature. I’d completely missed M, which was shown right after Metropolis.

Man. No one tells me anything.

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WWOTW 05/25/05
Originally uploaded by scooterdeb.

It’s time once again for Wednesday Wreck of the Week!

This week’s fender bender comes to us courtesy of a dark and rainy morning, combined with rush-hour traffic, and blended with the dash of a left-turn attempt.

It’s so convenient that the towing service was able to send one truck for both vehicles. Maybe they’ll end up at the same body shop so that they owners can glare at each other while they wait.

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I read that Brian missed winning this World Record by a single text message.