Love and Hate

I've often wondered if working in the entertainment buisness, but from the perspective of someone in management as opposed to an entertainer, would be a good idea. However, my experence tonite has ruled that out. I went into work tonight for what I thought was a rather strange shift - 5:45-9:45. I figured it was some sort of special viewing, as the park itself was closed, but I wasnt sure exactly what.

So I arrive at the Cinesphere...early as always, the everpresent indication that regardless of the fact I have lived/commuted in this city my whole life, I still continue to overestimate how long it takes to travel by subway. Anyway, I digress. As I said, I arrived at work to be informed that I would be hosting a special sneak premier of Posideion (sp?) in IMAX (ooooh!). Basically, I would be upstairs at the upper entrance, smiling and looking pretty. I thought this would be something I would be capable of doing, however, it proved more arduous than I expected.

First, I was swimming in security guards. Literally. There were, at my count, 12 security personell in the upper lobby, all there to ensure that no one illegally recorded the film. This was, needless to say, excessive. Number one, the lobby of the Cinesphere is not built to accomodate that many people, seriously. We generally let between 15 and 20 people into the lobby at a time, and all of a sudden, we have 12 burly men searching patrons as they try to work their way into the theater. Not pretty. Number two. I would say that at least half, if not more, of the people in attendance, were affiliated in one way or another with Warner Brothers, and most others were people who were considered "upstanding members of the community" (old, rich, white people). Why would they pirate a movie? Why would security need to give them a full patdown. (Im serious, they used those wand metal detectors and everything.) Number three. The security people kept asking for free food. And Olga was on snackbar. Olga and requests for free food generally do not mix well. I only wish I had been there to see more.

Ok, I've kinda digressed from my original train of thought.... I do not seem to like the "hollywood type" of people that are in the entertainment business. I had some dealings with them at Radio Glendon, and they were usually hit or miss. I always enjoyed the Indie people I talked to, bc they actually cared, but once you got into the bigger labels, it got really bad. Tonite just helped to reinforce my disdain for this particular group of people. They think a great deal of themselves. I dont like that, especially when you are egotistical about stupid things. I dont think I would resent people who were egotistical about the right things, like humanitarian stuff, but theyre not like that. No, the only people who are egotistical are those who dont deserve it. Imean, there was one guy, a promoter, i think that was his job. All he did was drive around in a hummer decaled with the current movie he was promoting, and set up posters at the events. How stupid! What contribution to society are you making through this? Honestly, it makes me want to have success as a musician or something, just so I can screw with these types of people. You're paid to drive around in a hummer? Its fucking stupid. First of all, hummers should be banned...but thats another thing, I dont want to get into it right now. Needless to say, Im not one for living excessively.

On a totally different note, I saw a dude on the subway who appeared to be a bit of a "radical vegetarian." Maybe Im rushing to judge, but when you walk around with a bag covered in pins with slogans like "meat is murder," I tend to make assumptions about what you stand for. I apologize if i have made a mistake. Anyway, this guy is sitting on the subway, and i notice he is wearing what I thought to be leather shoes. So, being the cow eating dick that I am, one station before I get off, I walk up to him. The conversation went something like this:

Me: "Hey, I'm sorry, I dont usually do this, but I really like your shoes, what brand are they?"
Guy: "Uuh, I think their (insert whatever brand, I dont remember)"
Me: "Cool, they're really nice, are they all leather?"
Guy: "Yeah, theyre real italian leather, theyre really nice"

That was the end of the conversation, but I exited the train with ever the subtlest of smirks. I think he totally missed my point. I was thorougly amused.

Cheers

Joe