What's so great about Friday?

Last week was a heck of a week. Not in the respect that I had a lot of work or a lot of stress. I actually had a lot of fun. All week long. Now, when I tell my sister back home what I do for fun, she will oftentimes ask, aghast, "On a weeknight?"

Maybe this is a midwestern thing. I don't know.
But really, like those inane chain-restaurant commercials say, "Why should Friday have all the fun?"

Let's see. Let's start on Saturday. It's not a weekday, but who cares.

"But Dana, you just set up this whole thing about weekdays!"

Shut up! This is my page and I'm telling you what I did on Saturday.

...so, Saturday I went to see Spiderman 3 after having spent the previous 5 hours watching the first 2. It was rather disappointing but hell, any critic can tell you that. Plenty of people talking about Spiderman. I'm over it. You know what? Forget Saturday.

Sunday, I hit the premiere of the movie "Baby" at the Visual Communications Film Festival.



The lead is a buddy of mine, David Huynh, who I worked with on a yet-to-be-finished film last summer called POX. My fondest memories of David from that shoot involved him wearing a sailor-suit/leotard hybrid with male-enhancement padding... but let's save that for the tabloids. The film was great and it took home a couple of big awards including Special Jury Award Best Feature and the Special Jury Award for Best Emerging Actor went to David himself. Attaboy.

Monday was Harold Night at the Upright Citizen's Brigade Theatre on Franklin in Hollywood.


For those of you unfamiliar with it, The Harold is a long-form improv style developed and popularized by Del Close, co-founder of the ImprovOlympic. If you want to learn about it, read Truth In Comedy, but if you'd rather just experience it then UCB's Harold Night is your destination. For five bucks, you get 2 groups of well-trained performers putting on a full Harold each. Or, if you're like me and feel the need to take classes there, you get in for free. Depending on how you look at it. I may just be attending the most expensive show in town... Hmmm... anyhow! It's a good time regardless and, in truth, the UCB is almost always a good choice for a cheap night of quality enteratainment.

Tuesday night I went to record audiobooks at Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic. Some people might not consider this a night of grand entertainment, but I always have a good time. Plus, the other volunteers there (at least the ones at the Reseda branch) are fun, a little crazy, and smart as hell.

Wednesday I hit another comedy club. Don't worry, they don't beat you for cheating on the UCB! No, I went to the Groundlings Theater for the Crazy Uncle Joe show ($10). I had been hearing for months from a very reliable source that this was really the best show at the Groundlings. Not having seen any others, I will say this one impressed the pants off me. Really. I left with no pants. Sure, I walked in wearing a dress, but that's beside the point. They did 2 acts with a brief intermission and I swear I don't know how their heads didn't explode. Good stuff. Lousy parking though! Show up early!

Thursday night was another nice cheap date. I hit a free screening of the surprisingly good 28 Weeks Later.



Thanks to the good people at LA Weekly and KROQ (not to mention my buddy Greg who couldn't use the tickets), I got to check out a sequel I had been more than a little leery about. Big fan of the original, you see. However, I was pleased to see that they neither A) tried to create a replica of the original or B) completely chucked everything that worked from the first one. While the scope of the movie was very different, this was still a horror movie with strong central characters that didn't forget the small-scale roots it came from. I liked Jeremy Renner as the one dissenting American soldier, and the opening where Robert Carlyle... no, I can't. It'll ruin it for you. I tell you, it may not be a must-see, but it's definitely a should-see.

Which brought me to Friday.
I had a really long week.
I had been running all over town.
I was tired. And running out of clean clothes.

So Friday night, I did laundry.
And it was good.

You know, the rest of the week really doesn't get enough credit.