Hollywoodland or Bust

LET'S SAVE SOME BABIES

2011-04-04T23:03:00.000-07:00

IT IS TIME.

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It is official.

2011-03-31T01:03:00.000-07:00

I am the worst blogger in the whole world. I haven't posted in ages.

I feel like I've had nothing going on, but in truth, I have been ridiculously busy. I've been traveling, I've been auditioning, I've even been temping (yes, I'm a temp these days, too, which is...awesome?).

But mainly, I have been working like a crazy person on a project that is so important to me that it makes me cry every day. I never knew I could be so passionate about something that didn't directly affect my everyday life or that of anyone I knew.

...but then I heard about Baby Getty.

Getty Storm is a one year old little girl--the daughter of a friend of a Damnwells fan and follower of my friend Morgan's blog. I first heard about Getty in passing--something about a "button" on a blog or something ("what's that?")--and now, just a couple months later, Getty and her friends and family have become MY friends and family, and I care about them so crazy much that I have decided to to everything humanly possible to help little Getty. Who knows--I might even run a marathon in December!

You see, Miss Getty, or "Getty Owl," as she is known, has SMA Type 1. That's Spinal Muscular Atrophy--basically the most awful thing you could ever imagine--and Type 1 is its most aggressive form. SMA is a terminal disease. It's genetic. And it affects 1 in every 6,000 children born worldwide. When you do the math (and I'm not good at math, so thank you Sophia's Cure for doing it for me), that's one child born with SMA EVERY 7 HOURS. And those children are considered lucky if they make it to their second birthday.

Long story short, SMA REALLY, REEEEEEEEALLY SUCKS. We need to find a cure for it as soon as possible.

And the good news is this: a cure IS close. Researchers are getting very close. But research costs money...like, a LOT of money. So that's where we come in.

I'm not sure how many of you know this, but my husband, Alex, is the singer and songwriter for a little band called The Damnwells. He's incredibly talented. I have also been a singing my whole life. And when the opportunity to help came up, we decided to record an album of lullabies that Alex wrote--11 of them, to be exact--and we are now planning to release them ***NEXT WEEK*** and donate the proceeds to The Getty Owl Foundation, to help put an end to SMA.

I HOPE YOU WILL BUY THIS ALBUM AND HELP US SAVE SOME BABIES!!!! Please?

"Sweet Water Child ~ Lullabies For Getty" officially arrives next Tuesday, April 5. (Don't tell anyone (we're still working out the kinks), but you can stream it online HERE. Shhhhhh!)

New Hair

2011-03-18T00:19:00.000-07:00

Thoughts??

Puppet Love

2011-02-24T00:28:00.000-08:00

Okay, so this is pretty much the cutest music video ever.

On the heels of dinner & drinks with 2/3rds of possibly the highest selling female recording artists of all time (I die because they're so normal and just super amazing women), I am so inspired and in love with music again... So, yay. :)

Cooooookieeeeeeee...

2011-02-15T12:31:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I just have to tell you. My favorite Gluten Free cookies of all time are Pamela's Chocolate Chunk, and can be made using THIS MIX:

(Or: Pamela's Products Incredible Chocolate Chunk Cookies Mix, 13.6-Ounce Units (Pack of 6) ...for 6 bags of mix.)

They're super easy to make, too. Just make sure you don't *completely* melt the ENTIRE STICK OF BUTTER that goes into them, because if the butter is too hot, it melts the chocolate chunks, which then, in turn, morphs your cookie batter into a mound of brown goo, which--although delicious--doesn't look so appetizing. Believe me.

You're welcome. :)

"Valentine for Perfect Strangers"

2011-02-14T15:08:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day, lovers!

(WTF?!)

Beachy McBeacherson

2011-02-14T13:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I had to take the hubs to the airport in the morning. After I dropped him off, though, I couldn't bear to just drive home and sit inside all day because it was such a gorgeous day outside--so on a whim, I went to the beach instead.

And lemme just say--THIS NEVER HAPPENS.

Living in Los Angeles, we are so close to the beach, yet for some reason we never seem to go there. I guess we always just assume that it's gonna be cloudy and 10 degrees cooler at the beach--because, well, sometimes it is. But a couple weeks ago, Alex and I went and met up with the Damnwells' new publicist and our marketing diva for a lunch meeting in Santa Monica, and it was sunny and perfect!

So yesterday, when the sun was shining brightly near LAX, I got inspired and decided to check it out for myself--and lo & behold, it was amazing. It was about 70 degrees there at 11am, the sand was all sun kissed and warm on my bare feets, and for the 30 minutes before my parking meter expired (I only had 50 cents, of course), I totally felt like I was in another world--like, an awesome, sunny, beachy one. It was pretty great.

(Oh yeah, also, I'm a full-on redhead again, thanks to Sheyanne at C the Salon in Studio City, my fabulous hairdresser for over 8 years, which is kind of insane. Yay!)

She Goes Around

2011-02-03T12:58:00.000-08:00

Oooooooohhh! A free download of the song "She Goes Around" from the upcoming Damnwells record! And featuring yours truly with the scorching backing vocals, no less.

"So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish"

2011-01-28T13:32:00.000-08:00

Somebody sent me this quote the other day when I un-followed them on Twitter, which of course, led me to Google it--which in turn, led me to this. I haven't been able to get it out of my head since. :) You're welcome.

This Thing Rules

2011-01-26T15:38:00.000-08:00

No, seriously. I think it's pretty much saved my life.

My husband isn't super into massages, but I am--and I always want and sometimes desperately NEED neck and shoulder massages. I dunno, I get something like pinched nerves in my shoulders sometimes that can be super painful and prevent me from turning my head and stuff. Other times, I spend too much time staring at my computer (big shocker, I'm sure, and if you're sitting here reading this I bet you know what I'm taking about) and I just get stiff and cranky. Anyway, this thing is awesome, so I just had to share.

BIG NEWS: Help Us Fight SMA

2011-01-17T13:09:00.000-08:00

Okay, so, Alex and I have some big news to share with you. We are currently working on an album of Lullabies. The album is going to be titled, "Sweet Water Child ~ Lullabies for Getty" and all proceeds from the sale of the record will be going to help fund research to fight Spinal Muscular Atrophy, as well as to help one precious 9 month old baby who is fighting for her life, Getty Storm--or Getty Owl, as she is known. We don't have a release date for the record set yet as it's still a work in progress, but there you have it.

ALSO, Alex and I will be performing a few songs from our upcoming Lullabies album TOMORROW NIGHT (January 18th) at a charity gala here in Los Angeles. The event is being put on by Hope For SMA and The Sophia's Cure Foundation, two charities that help in the fight against Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), which is pretty much the most awful disease you can think of--genetic, degenerative, and terminal--and it effects 1 in 6,000 infants born today. Please join us for the gala, or if you can't make it, please consider a donation to Sophia's Cure.

Here are the details for the gala:

Hope for SMA
Charity Fundraising Gala

Tuesday, January 18, 2011
7:00 – 10:00 p.m.

Cost is $125 per person

J Restaurant & Lounge
1119 S. Olive Street
Los Angeles, CA 90015
www.jloungela.com

Enjoy Dinner, Special Guests, Live Entertainment,
Dancing, Silent Auction, and Valet Parking.

Join us for A Night of Hope on January 18, 2011 as the community rallies together to put an end to the #1 genetic killer of infants, Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 1. Currently there is no treatment or cure for these babies; their life is a death sentence.

About SMA
• SMA is the #1 genetic killer of children under the age of two
• 1 in every 40 people UNKNOWINGLY carry the gene responsible for SMA
• 1 in 6,000 babies are effected every year
• SMA 1 babies are unable to hold their head, sit, swallow or breathe and require 24 hour care
• The National Institute of Health (NIH) selected SMA as the disease closest to treatment or cure of 600 diseases
•Researchers estimate that we are just a few years away from that treatment/cure.

Sponsorship Opportunities
Please consider making a donation, or sponsoring this event in honor of all those babies that are fighting to live and those that have earned their angel wings.

Diamond: a donation of $10,000 Benefits include two prominent (20 seats ) tables, full color page acknowledgment in program, plus table recognition and introductions.

Gold: a donation of $5,000 Benefits include a prominent table
(10 seats) A full-page color ad, plus table recognition.

Emerald: a donation of $3,500 Benefits include six (6) preferred seats,
half-page color ad in program, plus table recognition.

Ruby: a donation of $1,000 Benefits include two (2) preferred seats,
Quarter page ad, and table recognition.

For more information about Spinal Muscular Atrophy, please visit www.HopeForSMA.org. Another great resource is Families of SMA.

To donate to help Baby Getty and the Storm Family directly, please visit their blog, www.GettyOwl.com. Thank you so much.

Stream A Song From The Damnwells' Upcoming Album!

2011-01-12T16:33:00.000-08:00

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you "Werewolves." You're welcome.

Our Friend Pat is the Greatest

2011-01-09T20:39:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, we had a friend named Pat Sansone. And once upon a time our friend Pat was in a band called Wilco and another band called The Autumn Defense. Once upon a time, The Damnwells played a show at the Double Door in Chicago. And once upon a time, our friend Pat came up and played "I've Got You" with us. Here is a little clip of our rehearsal with him before the show. He's the one with the beard.

She Goes Around - Fan Video

2011-01-07T17:59:00.000-08:00

Here is an amazing video that was made by some Damnwells fans, starring a dude named Andrew Bettger (AKA "NeckBeard") from Seattle. What do you think--should this be the next official Damnwells video?

Sir Ian McKellen, On Acting

2011-01-07T10:28:00.000-08:00

The Sensitive Baker

2011-01-05T19:23:00.000-08:00

HOLY CRAP, THAT WAS A GOOD BAGEL.

So, my parents were in Los Angeles last week on their way to an awesome vacation in Tahiti (lucky lucky), and my mom, like me, has Celiac Disease. She was just diagnosed about a year ago, at age 65, after getting progressively sicker and sicker for many years. This was no surprise to me, because in the five years or so that I've been Gluten Free, one of the things I've learned is that it's EXTREMELY common, if not expected, for immediate family members of Glu-tards such as myself to also be affected by the evils of wheat.

My mom (hi, mom!), as it turns out, is also WAAAAAAY more sensitive to gluten than I am. Like, she pretty much gets sick from just *looking* at bread. No joke. She and my dad live in northern Illinois, just far enough out of Chicago to not live in an official "suburb" of the city, and there are VERY limited resources for gluten free foods in their area. So when I heard my folks were coming to LA, I asked my mom what she wanted to eat. She told me she was dying for a burger (with a bun that's gluten free, that she doesn't have to microwave, and resembles something other than a soggy, crumbled mess) and real, normal french fries (fried in a dedicated fryer, where other breaded things are NOT). ...Well, I failed at this challenge pretty epically. In my search, however, I came across the website for The Sensitive Baker, a dedicated gluten-free bakery in LA's Culver City neighborhood, and we decided to take a little family field trip. We were super pumped and I was so excited and giddy I could have peed.

First of all, the traffic from West Hollywood to Culver City was completely unbearable on this particular day and it took us over an hour to drive the 6 miles to the bakery. Then, The Sensitive Baker, as it turns out, is a tiny storefront on Washington Blvd. which we drove past twice, then parked a block away and searched for on foot. When we finally got in the door, we found a cute little store with a bakery in the back room. The store has two cases of goodies--one of refrigerated items; one of frozen items--and a few shelves of non-perishables.

After about 30 minutes of excitedly looking at every single item in each case, we decided on the following items:

Package of 6 frozen carrot muffins: $8
Package of 4 frozen dough bake-it-yourself cinnamon rolls: $8 (icing not included)
Package of 4 frozen everything bagels: $8
Bag of 12 rosemary & olive oil frozen breadsticks: $8
And a bag of mini ginger snap cookies for my mom's flight: $4.49

Here's the thing, though. What my mom REALLY wanted was a full carrot cake or carrot cake cupcakes, but the bakery was unfortunately out of both items. The woman behind the counter was pleased to tell us, however, that the carrot muffins were the same batter as the carrot cupcakes and she'd be happy to frost the muffins for us! We were thrilled! ...That is, UNTIL I asked if we could just put the icing in a container and take it home with us so we could warm up the frozen muffins prior to frosting them (gluten free baked goods are gross and hard unless you microwave or toast them just prior to eating). She said no, and told us that it was because the cupcakes were more expensive than the plain muffins, then proceeded to ask us how many we wanted frosted AT A DOLLAR MORE PER MUFFIN! WTF? I was pissed. After voicing my confusion and objection to the situation (to which I only got attitude in return) and mumbling some choice words under my breath, we decided to have only 2 of the 6 muffins frosted. I decided to get over it because it was making my mother happy, took some deep breaths, and then proceeded to drive another hour back home.

Well, let me just say this: in the days since our little visit to The Sensitive Baker, I have come to understand some things. First of all, EVERYTHING WE GOT THERE HAS BEEN AMAZING. We had the breadsticks with dinner that night and I almost cried they were so delicious. We had the *frosted* muffins for dessert, and I almost cried. I ate one of the bagels this morning and almost lost my mind (this was the first everything bagel I'd had in like 5 years and it was SO. DELICIOUS.) I actually just polished off another of the un-frosted carrot muffins as I was writing this, and I have to tell you, I'm not even mad that I just looked at the receipt and the woman actually overcharged us by 4 EXTRA dollars, on top of the initial $2 for the frosting (okay, I'm furious, but it was SO worth it). I haven't made the cinnamon rolls yet (mostly because my lazy ass doesn't feel like making icing from scratch), but when I do, I'm willing to bet they'll be AMAZING, too.

So anyway, if you have Celiac Disease, or a wheat/gluten intolerance, or are just trying out a gluten free diet for fun (oh, the fun never stops), I highly recommend a trip to The Sensitive Baker...you know, for when you win the Lottery or can't go on another day without an everything bagel.

(You can also order online from The Sensitive Baker here.)

Everything I Know About Acting I Learned From James Franco

2011-01-05T15:58:00.000-08:00

Acting With James Franco Episode 1: "Sense Memory" from James Franco

The Damnwells / "Werewolves" OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO

2011-01-04T01:56:00.008-08:00

Sometimes my husband gets up in the middle of the night. And sometimes while I'm sleeping restlessly, wondering where he is, he makes music videos for songs on his upcoming record. ...Like this video, for instance.

Father's Office

2011-01-04T01:03:00.004-08:00

Tonight, the hubs and I ventured out to beautiful Santa Monica for a meeting with Benji from PledgeMusic. After our meeting, we were STARVING because we'd only eaten bananas all day (traveling for the entire month of December = no food in the house, apparently), and Alex has been talking about checking out Father's Office for, like, forever, and thinks about cheeseburgers approximately 86% of each and every day. So we decided that tonight would be the night we'd give it a shot.

First of all, Father's Office is located on a super cute street in Santa Monica called Montana Avenue. Adorable, fashionable businesses and twinkly lights line the street, on which, we were surprised to be able to find parking right in front of the place (and the meters expired at 6pm, so we didn't even have to pay! Bonus!). We walked in and found seats right away at the seat-yourself bar. The service was prompt, I didn't have to ask for "no ice" in my water--they just read my mind--AND it came with a little lemon wedge (no club soda option, though, just bottles of sparkling if you want to pay for them). I had a lovely glass of Rioja that was quite nice, and the hubs got one of their fabulously delicious microbrews.

We started with an appetizer of roasted brussels sprouts (with crispy serrano ham and pine nuts) that were aMAAAAAzing. When I tried to order a burger with no bun, however, the bartender was pleased to inform me, "Sorry, we can't do that. They only come one way," despite my gluten allergy--so Glu-tards BEWARE! But I really wanted the steak anyway, so I opted to spend the extra $2 and get it instead...AND IT WAS AWESOME. Hubs got the burger and thought it was the most amazing burger on the planet, and the skinny fries and the salad and the night were also great. So in the end, everybody won...and we got just a little bit fatter.

Photo by David Greenwald / LAist

Aaaaaand...We're Back

2011-01-04T00:53:00.002-08:00

So, it's only been approximately one million years since I last posted a blog, so I thought it was time for me to start over. There's so much pointless stuff I need to talk about (and some super important stuff, too), so here we go again!

2009-09-02T17:40:00.001-07:00

I am so fired from blogging. Follow me on Twitter!

Baby's Got a Brand New Blog!

2009-07-11T22:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my new blog! Hooray! I should have moved to Blogger a long time ago...

I can't figure out how to import all the older posts from the previous version of my blog, so in the meantime I will happily just leave the link to all of them here:

http://angeladezen.com/blog.html

Yay!!!! :)