Recent reading: "Hollywood Hustle"

Hollywood Hustle: A Thriller by Jon Lindstrom

 

Actor (General Hospital, Bosch, True Detective) turned novelist Jon Lindstrom was the guest at our December Sisters in Crime LA meeting and not only was he a fantastic speaker, his first novel, Hollywood Hustle, turned out to be a fantastic read.

 

Lindstrom's acting career began in the early 1980's and he's worked steadily ever since (he's also done some screenwriting and directing) so he knows how Hollywood really works and how tough and unforgiving it can be, and at the meeting he mentioned how many people he'd seen give up over the years. Winston Greene, the protagonist of Hollywood Hustle, is one of the survivors. Once considered the next Kevin Costner, Greene's career was negatively affected by alcoholism and the tragic death of his wife in a car accident, but later in life he's sober and his career has settled into low-budget but steady work. The current dark spot in his life is his poor relationship with his grown daughter Clare, who shares not only a drug and alcohol fueled slovenly life with her loser husband, but also a six-year-old daughter Amy, who Win adores.

 

Hollywood Hustle starts off with a bang. Winston awakes to find Amy at his bedside. She leads him outside to the man who brought her there, and that guy informs Win that they have kidnapped Clare and will let him know about the ransom. In spite of not becoming the next Kevin Costner, Win is still famous enough to be recognized by the public and also famous enough that the kidnapping crew believes him to be movie-star wealthy. He's not, and that fact drives a lot of the drama as he desperately attempts to round up sufficient funds to save Clare. 

 

Lindstrom writes short, snappy chapters that help move the chaotic action along as it ricochets around Los Angeles, from Winston's home in Wrightwood, to Sylmar, Venice and various freeways, all introduced by their proximity to Hollywood. Lindstrom also does an absolutely amazing job of getting right into the action, then unfolding the story, doling out the colorful cast of characters, their backgrounds, and how they all reached the point where we meet them. As a writer who has struggled with this, I found it to be a master class in launching directly into the action while unspooling the backstory bit by bit as needed. The last time I was this impressed with this ability was Devil in a Blue Dress. Like the Walter Mosley novel, I'll be revisiting this one for both the story and for writing advice.

 

Lindstrom's next book, Hollywood Payback, will be released in April. I'm looking forward to it.

 

From the book:

 

Teddy took in a long breath and let it out. "This is a crew, Win. They've done it before. Maybe that's all they do, and they're usin' this car to let you know how far they'll take it. On a regular ol' sunny day I'd recommend callin' in the cavalry, but this time...I don't know." Faint sounds from the TV wafted through the floorboards. "What puzzles me is why they didn't just take her," he said, cocking his head downstairs toward Amy.

 

Screening: "The Big Lebowski"

The Big Lebowski (1998)

Directed/Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

Starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, David Huddleston, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Elliott, John Turturro, Tara Reid

Fathom Events presented The Big Lebowski on the big screen in honor of the film's 25th anniversary and as part of its Classics series. I saw it on Sunday; it's also screening Wednesday evening.

 

It's hard to describe The Big Lebowski as it's a very unique story. From the brilliant and offbeat minds of the Coen brothers, it follows the "adventures" of The Dude, real name Jeff Lebowski (Bridges), who wants nothing more than to smoke pot, drink White Russians, and go bowling with his buddies Walter (Goodman) and Donny (Buscemi). But the Dude's mellow existence is upended when he's mistaken for another Jeffrey Lebowski (Huddleston), a wealthy older man whose trophy wife Bunny (Reid) owes money all over town. When one of the people she owes sends goons to The Dude's apartment and one of them urinates on his living room rug, The Dude - egged on by the bombastic Walter - pays a visit to The Big Lebowski, requesting he be compensated for the rug because, "It really tied the room together." He's blown off by the millionaire, who considers him a bum. But when Bunny is kidnapped and a ransom demanded, The Big Lebowski cuts a deal with The Dude - if he deals with the kidnappers to deliver the ransom and recover Bunny, there's a big payoff in it for him.

But things are not as they seem. After a series of mishaps involving The Big Lebowski's adult daughter/artist/aspiring single mother Maude (Moore), the theft and eventual recovery of The Dude's POS car, nihilists, and a Malibu porn producer (among other things), The Dude discovers what really happened with Bunny and how he's been manipulated by everyone involved.

The Big Lebowski facts and trivia:

• A lot of the clothes worn by The Dude came from Jeff Bridges' own wardrobe.
• The list of actors that the Coens considered for The Dude before Bridges was finally cast is staggering, and kind of weird. Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, Robert Duvall, Mel Gibson, George C. Scott, Andy Griffith, and Ernest Borgnine were all considered.
• Charlize Theron was considered for the role of Bunny Lebowski. 
• The roles of Walter and Donny were written with Goodman and Buscemi in mind.
• The story was inspired by the works of Raymond Chandler, but set in modern day Los Angeles.
• The dream bowling sequence was inspired by the films of Busby Berkeley.
  
• The Dude says his favorite word, "man", 147 times in the film.
• The word "dude" is heard 160 times in the film.
  
• The "F" word and its many variations are heard almost 300 times in the film. 
• When the film was released in 1998, it met with mixed reviews and an anemic box office performance. Since then it has attained cult status. Over the years, in addition to its growing popularity it also spawned Lebowski Fest and Dudeism.
  
• T-Bone Burnett, who served as music consultant on the film, suggested The Dude's loathing of The Eagles, which Burnett shared. Later, Jeff Bridges was confronted at a party by an unhappy Glenn Frey.
• The Dude's apartment is located at 606 Venezia Avenue in Venice, CA. The Big Lebowski's mansion is located at 10231 Charing Cross Road (just off Sunset Boulevard) in Los Angeles (exteriors) and Greystone Mansion at 905 Loma Vista Road (just off Doheny Road) in Beverly Hills (interiors). 
• The Ralphs grocery store where we first see The Dude is located on Huntington Drive in South Pasadena, although its street address is 1745 Garfield Avenue (the cross street). I shopped there a few times while living in Arcadia. Nice store.
• The bowling scenes were filmed at Hollywood Star Lanes in East Hollywood. The bowling alley has since been torn down and replaced by an elementary school.
• The intersection where The Dude was kicked out of the taxi is Jefferson and Dusquene in Culver City.
  

Sources: The Big Lebowski on imdb - The Big Lebowski on Wikipedia

Uh-oh

I'm not gonna be able to fit through the door. Willie Mae's is coming to L.A., specifically Venice. Right down the street from me, practically.

 

We didn't make it to Willie Mae's when we were in New Orleans in 2016 for Bouchercon, but the plan has always been to return and this place, known for having the best fried chicken on the planet, has been on my to-do list for some time in anticipation of my next trip to NOLA. 

 

It's going to be in Venice, on Lincoln just south of Rose, across from the Whole Foods. My only question is about parking. I have to drive right by that location going to and from my monthly hair appointment in Santa Monica and I'll bet there will be lines around the block, just like in NOLA.

Can't wait!

Cool plates

Didn't get a chance to take pics, but yesterday going to and from the store I saw a trio of really cool license plates.

In the parking lot, one car had VEN BCH. I wonder how long they've had it. My late godfather, an Arcadia, California historian, had the plates ARCADIA and OAK TREE on his and his wife's plates. Not sure if she kept them after he passed away.

Just a few spots down from VEN BCH was a car sporting plates declaring I LV NY (California plates - the classic gold lettering-on-black, no less).

Then driving home I saw a car sporting DLVR BBS. It took me a few seconds to realize what it meant...deliver babies!!!

And just to top off the automotive experience for the day, the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile was parked out in front of the hotels down the street. 

This was right after the rest of my patio furniture arrived! So just a good day all-around.

Charmed, I'm sure!

The other day this popped up on my Facebook feed: Celebrating Every Publication by Kate Fellowes. 

What Kate has done over the years is fill bracelets with charms relating to her stories and essays each time she's been published. She's currently on her third bracelet.

I thought it was a pretty cool idea, so I looked at my whopping four published short stories and started thinking about charms. Here's what I came up with. 

1 - "Crime Drama/Do Not Cross", which appeared in LAst Resort, is a Hollywood-based story about a failed actress turned private eye, and who is obsessed with a CSI franchise-type show that is about to end its run. So I figured a Hollywood sign charm would be awesome.

I had a surprisingly tough time finding Hollywood-related charms. In addition, a lot of them are intended to have chains looped through them, while I'm looking for charms with clasps. So far this is the closest thing I've found and I'm not really sold on it. I love the comedy and tragedy masks, but not for this story.

I did find this clapper board, but not happening at that price. Even the charms at Brighton (where I was really hoping to find what I needed to make this happen) aren't anywhere near that, and that is not an inexpensive place to shop.

2 - "Like Deja vu All Over Again", which appeared in Crossing Borders, was based on a nightmare I had years ago about being carjacked. So obviously a car charm is needed here.

Again, I was surprised by the apparent lack of car-related charms. The car in the story is an old Toyota Corolla, so it can't be a fancy car. I might need to brainstorm this one a bit more.

3 - In "The Legend of Bahama Bobby", which was just published in The Fish That Got Away, Bobby is a painter, so something painterly, obviously.

I found the perfect charm here. Is this cute or what?

4 - Lastly we have "Christine Thirteen", which is just now being published in Avenging Angelenos (I'm still swooning over that cover). I don't want to give too much away, but the obvious choice is a disposable coffee cup with a lid.

I was surprised how few of these I could find. You'd think they'd be all over the place. I needed a cup with a lid as opposed to a cup and saucer, and eventually found this.

So far I haven't bought any of these because I don't want the collection to be spotty, but if I can find charms to go with all four stories, it's pretty certain I'll be adding to my jewelry collection. Plus, it would be a heck of a conversation piece, don't you think?

Boarded up

Rolled up to my salon this morning to find this:

This is Killer Hair in Marina del Rey, which was just voted Best Hair Salon (again) in the Best of the Westside issue of The Argonaut. It doesn't usually look like this. It was a real jolt.

It turns out that boarding up the windows is a combination of concern over potential vandalism (aka rioting) because of the election, and the fact that there is a weed shop right next door. They felt if people start looting, the weed shop will be an attractive target, which could easily lead to Killer Hair's windows being smashed. It's already been a tough year for salons, so they don't want to have to shut down again. Hopefully they can pull down the boards soon and get back to business as usual.

Also, my hair looks fabulous.

The next time I talk about moving away from the beach, kick me in the ass please

Thank you.

Scenes from an overcast beach morning

Overcast during beach walk this morning. Didn't care.

Stormy looking skies eventually gave way to sunshine.

Bird was here. Probably a gull.

Lots of doggies out this morning. This one left prints that
looked like a little bear.

Venice Pier. I'm pretty sure I've taken a shot in the past
that looked almost exactly like this.

Now this really confused me. On a few occassions I've seen LAX reverse it's usual "take off to the west (over the ocean)/land from the east" pattern during bad weather. But for some reason today, this guy landed from over the ocean. Even weirder, I saw a couple others taking off in the normal direction. Not sure what his deal was.

Morning light and the Venice Pier

Scenes from my morning walk: