Krispy King Kong

On my drive in to the office today, I was greeted by this sight (although from a different angle; thanks to AP for this shot). Seems the Universal Studios are burning again. I say again, because the New York streets back lot burned down in 1990 but was later rebuilt since it's used in so many productions.

This time around the New York streets back lot burned once again, along with the "Back to the Future" town square set, a good part of the King Kong exhibit on the studio tour and a video/film vault building. It was rather impressive, since the fire started at 4:30 in the morning; I was driving by nearly seven hours later and it was still spewing black smoke. But you have to admit, all that stuff was a lot to burn.

It says something about living in Hollywood that, seeing a huge column of black smoke rising from one of the larger studios lots, my first thought was that a film was shooting and this was just a very good special effect. Upon arriving at work, however, I found that it was not make believe, but a reality.

Now, more than ever, it's important not to buy pirated DVDs. Universal has to get its billions of dollars back (never mind its thorough insurance coverage; feel sorry for them). My personal suspicion is that they wanted to 86 the King Kong ride to make way for a newer franchise and this was a good way to do it. Anyway, Universal Studios Theme Park is not open today. I'm sure City Walk (the mall outside the theme park) is in full swing, as there are sure to be gawkers with money to spend.

Steve has had his first full week of unemployment and is doing just fine. He's in the process of getting a background check and clearance for a company that sends out long-term temps, some of them in the entertainment industry. I told him there was lots of work in that area for people who wanted to work on contract, since most accounting and bookkeeping happens while production is going, then things wrap and the books go back into the studios, where the REAL accounting magic happens. In any case, I'm sure something will come up soon for him. And if he enjoys the temp gig, you can make a pretty nice piece of change, including benefits, if the temp company wants you.

Everyone got back from the Cannes Film Festival this last week, so I'm hoping things will get back to normal at work. It was nice to see our art director Deeann come through the door today, and I'm hoping a little sanity will follow in her wake. You have to remember that we launched the redesign and then a week later everyone left for Cannes, so this is the first time we'll have a full workforce on the paper since we made the big change.

Nothing much else to report. I'm reconsidering my statement that tropical Tiki is tacky (say that three times fast) as a wedding theme. I kind of like the idea of getting hitched in my best Hawaiian shirt with a big tropical flower boutoniere. Steve seems to think it can be tastefully done and I'm always up for a challenge.

I'll log back on when something else explodes or burns down here in LaLaLand.