Sam's Blog

Link: http://www.theclashonline.com/

These past few days have gone by fast. It was Oncology Nursing day on Thursday and we had a great celebration after work. We went to Napa Valley Grille in the village (my first time) and Genentech sponsored a fabulous meal for all of us. The appetizers were exquisite and the steak was so good! The wine glass was bottomless. I thought that I had only had a glass of wine, but then realized that they kept on refilling it for me. I think that was the best part. I met up with Josh afterwards at Bruin plaza, where The Roots was putting on a free show. I caught the butt end of it and it was pretty cool.

I went to UCLA's Spring Sing Friday night. I don't think that I have ever missed one since I started school there in 1998. It's weird to know that I saw Kara's Flowers [later to be known as Maroon 5] perform there. Eh, they're an alright band, just not my style. I think that they try too hard, but their songs are very catchy and they get a lot of airplay. My favorite performers were The Jazzmen, who did an a capella version of the Super Mario Bros. theme song. It was fantastic. The company was pretty funny, not as good as some previous years, but there were a few skits that were soooo funny. My favorite was balls vs. ropes. It was awesome. I went with Lindsay and her mom and Dre and Mich Garr. It was really fun and it wasn't too cold this year.

Josh was pretty much gone all weekend because he was a judge for this year's Spotlight Festival for the department of Theater, Film, and Television. I missed him, but he luckily was able to come home and sleep at decent hours. So I was on my own and ready for the weekend. Saturday was just a fabulous day all around. The weather was perfect. Absolutely perfect. Sunny with a slight breeze. I met up with Alexis in Santa Monica and we went shopping and ate at Panera Bread, a new restaurant near the promenade. I was sad because it replaced Polly's Pies, a local favorite for decades. But Panera was really good. Sandwiches and pastries and salads. It reminded me of the Corner Bakery and Cosi, but a lot fresher, if that makes any sense. We took advantage of the weather and went bike riding on the beach with a double bike. We are such nerds. It was fun though! We went shopping and I bought 2 new halter tops (which are my favorite articles of clothing this year) and wore one that night. That night we went out to celebrate Jenny's admission into Oxford's doctoral program in Human Genetics. Jenny is one of Amy's best friend from high school. We've hung out periodically these past few years when she comes into town. She may quite possibly be one of the smartest girls I've ever met. She did her undergraduate work at MIT. So yeah, she's very bright and beautiful, a very rare combination. I was happy that night already because Angela was back in LA and though she was only gone for 2 weeks, it seemed like forever. We had a yummy dinner at Buca di Beppo and then walked over to Ye Olde King's Head pub. We met two British guys and Jenny chatted up with them to get a feel for all of the social opportunities in Oxford. We played a few games of darts with them and it was very nice and relaxing and fun. We have to go back there on a Sunday night though because it's karaoke night.

Sunday was action-packed and nonstop. It started off with the monthly brunch that I organize. It was thrown together at the last minute, but I am glad that some people went. I knew that everyone was at Coachella and busy with their end of the year projects and such, so I figured as much. Lisa met Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (the hot soccer coach in Bend It Like Beckham and who will be playing Elvis on CBS very soon) while waiting for us to get there. I saw him when we sat down. He was cute, a bit tanner than I expected, but he's so dreamy! We went to see The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy afterwards. I remember reading the book years ago, about 10 years to be exact. So I was a bit rusty except for vague storylines. I was happy to see that Marvin, the paranoid android, was voiced by Alan Rickman. It was perfect. The humor was very British and I can't see many Americans liking the film all too much, but it was highly entertaining for me. It was so random at times and there are some holes in the plot and some things that didn't make sense to me, but I haven't read the book in so long. Overall, it was a fun movie and a great time. I then had to rush over to the girl's place for our monthly PRO meeting. We talked a lot about issues that we researched on Congress' website. We drafted a letter to Howard Dean regarding the new filibuster law that the Republicans are proposing. It was nice to get something accomplished. After the meeting, we watched Russell Peters do a stand-up show. He is hilarious. He is the funniest Indian/Canadian guy I've ever seen. I highly recommend that you watch some of his stuff. I thank Eva for introducing us to him. I forgot to mention that I watched Control Room (thanks, Aussie) last week and it was a great documentary about Al Jazeera. Please, please watch it.

So yesterday was AWESOME. Alexis and I went to the premiere for the new British movie Layer Cake. It was Matthew Vaughn's directorial debut. He has produced a few of Guy Ritchie's films and wanted to try to direct, so this was his final product. They had great food, cheese, wine, drinks, cake (of course) and coffee before the screening. A few big stars were there including Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Claudia Schiffer (who is Vaughn's wife), Michael Keaton, Daniel Craig (the main character of the film and is rumored to be the next James Bond) and a few others. It was a star-studded past couple of days! The film was smart, but it took a really long time to develop, so it dragged a bit. It was good that they focused a lot on character development, but the pacing was a bit off for a suspense/gangster/thriller type movie. But it wasn't that bad.