At the invitation of the Director of 1,001 Ways, I went to a film distribution and financing seminar/panel discussion last night, sponsored by "CAPE," the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment. It was a great discussion, good food and wine, and I was pleasantly surprised to see a number of people who I knew there, including the casting director of Death Ride, the first film I ever worked on.

As part of the constant refinement of my entertainment industry plan, I am doubling my networking efforts ... this week was a good start.

Baffled.

I understand and appreciate the indignation that Iranians have towards what appears to be a brazenly stolen election in Iran. But for the life of me, I cannot understand why Iranians are protesting the Iranian election results in front of a Federal Building ... in Los Angeles.

If I was living in Berlin, for example, and I thought the US election had been rigged, and I wanted to protest, I might go over the US Embassy and protest in front of it. If I was riled up enough, maybe I would fly back and protest in the US. But it would never occur to me to protest the US election in front of the Reichstag or the Brandenberg Gate in Germany -- these are buildings and monuments of a completely different country.

Am I missing something?

Vyshehrad, Prague, 2001

Groovy Progress.

Yesterday's Sir Groovy board meeting was at the Mondrian Hotel in Hollywood. A place that, in true evil Hollywood-esque fashion, is an ultra cool and expensive hotel that has absolutely no sign or other distinguishing characteristics on the building to let you know that it's even there. You either know the place exists, or you don't ... you can literally walk right by it and have no idea that there is a hotel there. Which is either "zero" marketing ... or Genius.

The board meeting itself was great, not only because it was held on the West Coast for the first time, but the brain trust assembled was incredible, and included investors, executive producers from top-rated television shows, and high level denizens of the music industry. The meeting was eye-opening, and I was certainly not alone in the "amazement" category when Vic Sarjoo demonstrated the new Sir Groovy technology that has developed in stealth-mode over the last two years. Following the meeting, we retreated to an Argentinian restaurant on the Sunset Strip for never-ending bottles of wine, perfectly cooked steak and great conversation. All in all, it was a fantastic evening, and a good chance to catch up with the team from NYC.

Debut of the 1987 Santa Clara Vanguard, at the Concord Pavilion