November 2013

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Funeral services set for the father of Assemblyman Mike Gatto

Preparation are underway for the funeral of Joseph Gatto, the father of Assemblyman Mike Gatto. The assemblyman’s office announced the services will be this coming Monday, November 25, 10 a.m. at Our Mother of Good Counsel Catholic Church ,2060 North Vermont Avenue, in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. A private reception and graveside burial will follow the funeral mass, according […]
Sunday, November 17, 2013

My Take: The unfriendly skies

After my scary flight on American Airlines last week, the friendly skies do not look so, ah, friendly. Turns out passengers on another commercial jetliner, a Southwest Airlines flight from Tampa, Florida to Raleigh, North Carolina, got an even worse fright from their pilot. Last Tuesday evening,  the Southwest pilot announced over the PA system: “We’re going down.” And the plane […]
Sunday, November 17, 2013

Mega Millions jackpot hits $165 million — how high will it go?

  Jackpot winners have been hard to come by for the Mega Millions lottery game lately. So the game’s money pot has continued to grow and now stands at $165 million! When a jackpot blows up to that size — lottery fever frequently breaks out. The lines of ticket buying dreamers gets longer and more dollars get pumped into the […]
Saturday, November 16, 2013

More than a hundred job seekers lined up in Burbank for entertainment jobs

The temperatures in the low 60s, the skies cloudy, and a threat of rain hung in the air, but still they came to a union office in Burbank this morning. Shortly before the interviews began at IATSE Local 33, 1720 West Magnolia Boulevard, the line of job seekers stretched around the block. By 9 a.m., more than 160 applications had […]
Friday, November 15, 2013

Script sales and deals

  “City that Sailed” — Screenwriter/director, Audrey Wells, has scored the job of writing an adventure film with Will Smith in the lead. Wells wrote the delightful rom-com, “The truth about cats & dogs” (1996), as well as “Under the Tuscan Sun” (2003), which she directed, too. Now Wells has been tapped to write, “City that Sailed,” about a young […]
Friday, November 15, 2013

Fall returns to Burbank

  A major chance in the weather today. Yesterday, the Media City sizzled with a high of 92. ABC7’s meteorologist, Dallas Raines, reported last night that high broke a record of 91 — set back in 1974. Today the temperature is expected to reach only 70 in B-town.. Partly cloudy skies in the forecast, along with a chance of light drizzle […]
Thursday, November 14, 2013

Tragedy in Silver Lake: Assemblyman Mike Gatto’s father gunned down

A tragedy in Silver Lake is resonating through Burbank, the Southland, and all the way to Sacramento. Assemblyman Mike Gatto’s father was found shot to death in his Silver Lake home last night. Today, a team of Los Angeles Police detectives, headed by the robbery-homicide division, reportedly searching the scene and the neighborhood surrounding 78-year-old Joseph Gatto’s home for clues, […]
Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Script sales and deals: Popular toys to get Hollywood treatment

Toys are still hot properties in Tinseltown. The offsprings of some notorious monsters are about to get the glitter and glam treatment from the creators of the hit TV shows, “Gossip Girl” and “The O.C.” Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage have signed on to write and produce a Universal project based on the popular Mattel toyline, Monster High, according to The Hollywood Reporter. […]
Wednesday, November 13, 2013

American Airlines jet bound for LAX makes emergency landing in Honolulu

Some weary, but most likely grateful passengers arrived at LAX early today on flight 254 from Kahului Airport on Maui in Hawaii. It was supposed to be a direct flight,  but some kind of malfunction shortly after take-off prompted the pilot to make an emergency landing at Honolulu International Airport on the island of Oahu. I was on that plane, […]