Dia De Los Muertos 2006

Saturday night, Steve and I went with our friends Pam and Alek to the Day of the Dead festival in Los Angeles. It's huge, held at the Hollywood Forever cemetery, which dates back to the 1800s and it's where lots of famous people have been buried over the years.


For example, here's a shot of Rudolph Valentino's tomb. Crazy, huh?


As a side note, in case any of you are anime geeks, Pam Buck was better known as B.D. Banzai back in the '80s and '90s and produced all those Dirty Pair and Robosmut cartoons where they did parody dubs of the voices in English. Very funny. I won't mention which voices I did for her.

Anyway, some of you may ask, what is Dia de Los Muertos? Well, I stole this write up from the LA Day of the Dead website (which also offers a history of how the Los Angeles event was born). It's very informative.

Dia De Los Muertos is one of Mexico's traditional holidays reuniting and honoring beloved ancestors, family and friends. It is an ancient and enduring ritual when the living commune with the dead-- a mystical night when the veil is lifted between their two realms and they may share a day together.

The historical roots of this celebration date back to the pre-Hispanic cultures of Meso-America of the indigenous people, especially the Nahua (Aztecs, Mayans, Toltecas, Tlaxcaltec, Chichimec, Tecpanec) and others native to Mexico more than 3,000 years. When the Spaniards conquered the country, this indigenous custom was rooted so deeply that, after five centuries of colonization, it has continued to survive and remain as celebrated as in its first days.

Throughout each period in Mexican culture, death seems to hold no terror. In Mexican art, legends, and religion, death has not been a mysterious and fearful presence but a realistic recognizable character as much a part of life as life itself. Dia De Los Muertos expresses this perspective: it is not a mournful commemoration but a happy and colorful celebration where Death takes a lively, friendly expression and is not frightening or strange. There is no place for sorrow or weeping for this could be interpreted as a discourteous to the dead relatives who are visiting gladly.

Indigenous people believed that souls did not die, that they continued living in Mictlán (Place of Death) a special place for them to finally rest. On Dia De Los Muertos, tradition holds that the dead return to earth to visit their living relatives. It is believed that although these relatives can't see them, they can surely feel them.

This night is an important feast and evocation. It is a time when family members share memorable stories that evoke the lives of their ancestors. Offerings and altars are created to welcome and commemorate the dead. Marigolds and incense are offered in abundance because it is believed their aromatic scents guide the dead to the place where the feast is being held. A profusion of candles dispels the darkness just as the souls are being illuminated from the shadows of death. Altars are created with photos, mementos, fruit, bread, and other favorite things of the ancestors being welcomed and honored. The artifacts of these altars also provide the opportunity to teach children about those who came before them.

Dia De Los Muertos is a time of celebration on remembrance. It is also a time to come to terms with our mortality and become aware of the cycle of life and death. Rather than deny and fear death this event teaches us to accept and contemplate the meaning of mortality.
Okay, back to Rick... All of the altars shown in this post were taken from the event this past Saturday. Joey Ramone was also buried here (pictured above) so there was a big tribute to the fallen Ramones. Such a fun, unique night, and I can't wait to go again next year.

Some Fashion House answers...

For the past couple days I've been talking about the usual stuff-- writing, life, and Disney snowglobes (Did I mention that the top three selling globes are ones that Steve made? One of them is this Princess globe here and the Little Mermaid we posted a while back. Damn, he's good...).

So now it's time for...
The Fashion House Answers Page!

THE HIT ON MICHELLE MILLER: Gloria (pictured right with those sexy, smoky eyes) had her ex-boyfriend, Eddie Zarouvian, put a hit out on Michelle. It IS going to happen, and it IS going to really mess with one particular character's story in the process. Who gets shot? Nope, I'm not telling. But if you want to be surprised, don't do any digging. The network sent out a press DVD way back and it has the footage on it, so I'm sure someone will post info once the plot gets closer. Save yourself some good TV and avoid spoiling it.

FAN MAIL? Still trying to find the right address. I mean, I know the long, involved way one can find contact info for an actor other than going to his website, but that's a pain. I'm having a meeting at the production offices today and should have an answer soon.

POOR CRACKED OUT TANIA... Check her out, all unconscious and stuff. Well, trust me, it gets worse. And then better. And then WAY worse. But now I want to take a second and discuss FLASHBACK EPISODES because they can sometimes impact the show's storylines.

There are two types of deliberate flashback episodes in Fashion House. The recap episodes cover everything that happened that week. These are narrated by an unknown being and are pure recaps-- nothing else. But then there are selected flashback episodes within the series, like last Monday's episode, "Table For Two". These are episodes where some characters interact and we see flashbacks from only their perspective.

What's important about these episodes is that there is always about 30% new material within them. So if you missed last Monday, then you missed some important plot that will play out through the rest of Tania and Sophia's stories. Just an FYI for future viewing.

Also, if you want clues to what's going to happen you should always watch the confessionals on the MyNetworkTV website. The prequel stuff sets up Tania's addiction, and the confessionals will sometimes offer insight into what plans may unfold for various characters.

JOHN COTTER'S PLOT... Yes, John Cotter is skeevy. Yes, he is a constant pain in the butt. And yes, what happens with him and his story is very delicious. A word of advice: even though it may look like he's out of the game, don't count on it. He'll surprise you.

On a totally random note, my brother-in-law is named John Cotter. That's how we got the name. One of my best friends is Rodney Griffis-- that's how we got Rodney's name, but we had to change his last name just before filming. Oh, and my brothers-in-law are Jeff Thompson and John Spangler. Get the connection? Congressman Jeffrey Spangler. John was an lawyer for the State Attorney General and answered some questions for me from time to time on legal stuff for the show, thus he got a character named after him. See, it pays to be nice to me.

TONY TRIPOLI a.k.a. HANS. Yes, Tony and I have been friends for years. It's just a coincidence that we both work on this show.

THE MONEY OWED TO MARIA: This is a really great storyline that will play out to the end of the show. Yes, it may help her out with William and Sophia, but what happens in the long run when dealing with Eddie Zarouvian (on the left, but without that facial hair)? Good question. Just remember that Maria is smart enough and mean enough to get whatever she wants in the end. Just when you think you can predict what she'll do, she'll surprise you... especially when circumstances become VERY desperate. (hi, she hit Lance with a bat for God's sake).

Just wait, the best is yet to come.

Horrible Food Stories and Great Dad Updates

As you recall, last week was the anniversary of my father's death. My brother, Michael, who is 15 years older than me and knew Dad better, wrote me a fast story about him that cracked me up. Seriously, funny stuff. So funny, that I decided to add it in to that post. You can read the update here. (scroll to the bottom)

On writing topics, some of you may know that when I'm not writing for saucy telenovelas in the U.S., I also do restaurant reviews on the side for Metrosource Los Angeles.

Last week, I met my friend Mikel for dinner at The Kitchen in Silver Lake (4348 Fountain Avenue at Sunset Boulevard). It's known for being a real low-key hipster place, you bring your own wine, and eat some really solid grub. I was checking to see if it should still be listed in our Restaurant Bites section.

The food was quite yummy. Mikel and I enjoyed garlic mac and cheese, skirt steak, and a turkey burger with fries. Yes. We enjoyed it very much... Until the health department came in and closed the place because there was a vermin infestation!
NO SHIT! They literally came in and tore the "A" off the window, the waiter shut off the "Open" sign, and they pasted a sign up on the front door saying the place was closed.

I asked the waitress what was going on. She just smiled at me and walked away. Are you f-ing kidding me? We only found out about the vermin thing when we got up and left-- which was right after she refused to answer. (We'd paid already. What did she care?)

NOTE: I could have demanded the money back but I was so stunned for four days that it never occurred to me. And since I'm not dead, I guess I'll just let it go.

Now I have to assume it wasn't life threatening because the women who closed the place didn't tell everyone to stop eating. They just filled out paperwork and the staff turned away new customers while continuing to serve those who had already ordered. But vermin? OH MY GOD!

Needless to say, they will not be in the December issue of the magazine.

You can read Mikel's account of the event on his blog. (He also got a call that day from Robin Leach, which is kind of crazy. All I saw that day was a shirtless Mexican dude on crystal meth running across Sunset, and a girl riding on the back of a motorized wheelchair down Fountain. He wins.) Oy!

Have you seen Entertainment Weekly recently?

I think Borat decided to steal my publicity photo idea...
Fortunately, I'm better looking (and my pic kicks ass!)

WORD OF THE WEEEEEKKKKKKK!!!!! (Oct. 23)

The word of the week is: Fire My Agent

Definition: Verb. To defecate. Primarily used as an excuse in mixed company when one does not want the other person to know why he must urgently leave.

In a scene:
Rick is on the telephone with his mother and he realizes he has to use the restroom. Badly.

RICK: Okay, well, I've got a lot of work to do so I should go...

MOM: God, they work you to death don't they?

RICK (now sweating): Yeah, sometimes...

MOM: Oh, but before I lose you, I wanted to find out if any Rite-Aid refund checks came to your house.

RICK (crossing legs): Yeah, some. Um...

MOM: Do you remember how much they were for?

RICK: No... I...

MOM: You know, the next time you're down I need you to set up my internet so I can look up this stuff myself, because...

RICK (interrupting): Mom, I have to fire my agent!

MOM: Oh. Wow. That sounds important.

RICK (squeaky panic voice): It is...

MOM: Okay, then, I'll let you get to it. I love you.

For more Words of the Week, visit the Archives!

The Q Guide To The Golden Girls Book Signing!

Our friend, Jim Colucci, was signing his new book, The Q Guide to The Golden Girls on Wednesday night in West Hollywood. It was a really fun evening with inside stories about the show, tales of interviewing Bea, Betty, and Rue, and mountains of cheesecake for visitors (and if you're a GG fan, you know why that was important).

Jim is touring so if you're lucky you can hear these stories in person. If not, don't worry. Buy the book! All the dish is inside and lovers of this show will love the book, especially because Jim is one of those true fans and knows his stuff! Good times.

(On a side not, Jim also wrote the book Will & Grace: Fabulously Uncensored, which is also a great, fun read.)

Okay, so who was there with Steve and I? Well, many fabulous people, including...
That raven-haired woman of wit (and radio show producer), Doria Biddle, who we met while out drinking one night and actually remained friends with afterwards. (Imagine!) Here she is with Steve, pretending to be fascinated by some book with pornographic pictures in it.
There was also the very funny and famous Fank DeCaro, whom you may recognize from his Sirius radio show, or perhaps that stunning TVLand special I was on last year; we actually met when I was on his show promoting my book, not during the TVLand thing, but whatever. We look cute in this picture and that's all that matters (don't let anyone tell you otherwise).
And finally, here I am sandwiched between Jim and the book's cover artist, Glen Hanson (who I think is doing his best Spider-Man impersonation).

We would have stayed for wine, but Steve and I had to rush home and watch Project Runway. Such a busy night!

Relative Insanity: Sixteen Years Ago Today...

My father, Henry Andreoli, died of a heart attack in our home in San Diego. It was 10:30pm at night and I was tape recording an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation when my mom came running out of her bedroom and told me to call 911.

There's debate between my mom and myself as to when he actually died. She says that when they were in bed, he took her hand, squeezed gently, and then he died. She says she heard the death rattle.

But I gave Dad CPR, I saw his eyes pop open and heard him moan. He made eye contact with me and my sister, and then I saw the consciousness leave his eyes. There's more to the story, but that's enough for now. The point is that he was gone.

My mom was the real disciplinarian and I was never close with my father. Besides, I was 18 when he died and like most teenagers who think of themselves as adults, I knew he didn't understand me. Would never understand me. But that night the two of us had dinner together at Alley's all-you-can-eat pizza and pasta bar-- Dad was a Depression-era kid and loved a buffet. For the first time in a long while, I honestly felt close to him that night. I thought for a moment that our relationship was changing in a good way... I just never realized how much.

But when I dropped him off at home so that I could join my friends at a screening of Postcards From The Edge, (it seems fitting that someone like me would remember all this from a pop culture perspective), I sat in the car watching Dad walk up to the house, unlock the atrium door and then go inside.

"That's the last time you'll see him alive," a small voice said, clear and distinct. I brushed it off, wondering where it had come from. To this day I don't know; I've never thought of myself as "blessed" with a second sight.

When I think back on my relationship with Dad, the one memory that sticks out the most were the summers. He would swim in the pool-- a part of our house that made him feel especially wealthy-- we'd have dinner, then walk up to McDonald's for an ice cream cone. We'd then walk back in time to catch The Muppet Show together. Whenever I see Kermit or Miss Piggy I can't help but think of him.

And at some point in the night, Dad would make the same corny joke he'd always make when life was good. He'd say, "I wonder what the poor people are doing right now."

Having come from nothing, this life was heaven for my father.

Dad instilled in me a love of TV and movies. Out of everyone in my family, he would have absolutely loved that I was working in the entertainment industry (much less writing dialogue for the likes of Morgan Fairchild and Bo Derek). And even though it's been 16 years, I feel closer to him today than I did the day he died.
After writing this post, my brother Michael (who is in the photo above) wrote me a story about Dad that I wanted to add in. Michael is 15 years older than me and he knew our father much better. Here you go...

Dear Richard,

Read your story and thought it was great. I guess I remember him a little differently since he was so much younger then, but the "wonder what the poor people are doing?" I certainly remember. Here is one of my favorite Dad-isms. I must have been about six.

One day he comes home from work all excited because Edgar Bergen is going to be on the Ed Sullivan Show that weekend. Oh this guy is so great Dad gushes. Best ventriloquist ever! He'll crack you up. And on and on. So the big day comes and we tune in the old black and white TV which gets only three channels, and we all watch the Ed Sullivan Show.

Edgar Bergen is indeed there and does his act. The guy sucks! He's got the wooden dummy on his lap and every time the dummy talks you not only see Edgar's lips move- it's like EDGAR is talking. He doesn't even bother to turn away from the camera or anything, much less drink a glass of water when "Charley" speaks.

So I tell Dad, "This guy STINKS! Look at his LIPS MOVE!!"

Dad gets very huffy and tells me to quiet down. "He was GREAT on radio," says Dad.

Who's Headed to Horrorfest?

Well, not us. But we are excited about seeing the posters all over town because I wrote the tag line "8 Films To Die For".

What? You think those things just magically produce themselves? Companies hire writers to come up with them, and because of my work with Comic-Con International in San Diego, I was contacted to produce names for the festival, some possible tag lines and image ideas.

After Dark Horrorfest is basically a film festival spotlighting eight new movies that are deemed too scary and controversial for wide release to a mainstream audience. But horror fans? They'll eat this awesome stuff up! You can read all about it on the Horrorfest web site.

I didn't create the name After Dark Horrorfest-- though I did steal Steve's suggestion of calling the event Blood Bath and Beyond, which my bosses liked but the organizers did not. Nor did I come up with the image of the woman (I wasn't the only creative type involved in this project). But they did take my tag line which is very exciting.

It also got me another job coming up with the copy for Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj... Don't worry, you haven't missed it-- the film isn't out yet-- and I don't know what copy lines they'll choose for the film. But when it comes up, I'll let you know.

Unfortunately (kind of), after all that work the company wanted me to work on the campaign for Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Now, let's be clear: I am a comic book geek, so I would have killed to work on that. But The Heiress was in full swing and I had to turn the job down because, well, writing for TV is more exciting to me than writing copy to promote some other writer's movie/creation. But who knows? Maybe some more stuff will come along in the next couple months while things are slower for me.

Tonight we're headed to a book signing for our friend Jim Colucci's book, The Q Guide to The Golden Girls. Should be fun. Hopefully get some pictures in as well.

If you get a second, check out the book with cover art by artist and friend, Glen Hanson...

What's Steve Doing?

Steve and I dove into his new Mini Cooper this weekend and rushed to Target. Very urgent matter. (Actually, before that we darted downtown to the Von Dutch warehouse where they ship out their trendy expensive clothes to the masses-- found jeans for $20, shirts for $10, huge bargains, wish you were on our Christmas list.)

Anyway, we'd discovered that Target had Christmas products in stock, including many Disney items with Steve's artwork on them. What items?

Last year it was Disney Princesses, but the most important items this year were the Tinkerbell wrapping paper, gift bag, and ornament.
This made me realize that I've spent a lot of time in the last couple weeks talking about Fashion House and haven't mentioned what Steve's been up to. So here are a couple highlights.

As you may recall, we had a photo shoot a couple weeks ago where our friend Eric Staudenmaier took professional photographs of the snowglobes Steve creates for the Disney Stores. We're seeing Eric and his wife Saydi this weekend at a Xanadu sing along so we'll hopefully get a CD of the images then.

In the photo on the left he's shooting the Mickey animator snowglobe which has Mickey seated at Steve's animation desk, while around the base is a zoetrope that shows an animated Mickey walking to the tune of "The Mickey Mouse Club".


This is the prep table with all the snowglobes that Eric shot. Though nearly impossible to see, in the box on the left is The Little Mermaid I've featured on the blog, then Snow White, Alice in Wonderland, The Princesses, and one of the "Disney Through The Years" bookends in the back.

When we get the sexy pics, I'll post those here.

On Thursday of last week I was very excited to see Steve's latest creation that is just in stores now. It's the "World of Disney" globe-- I think they do one of these every year-- and it's massive.
With characters from like 10 different films, it's pretty crazy cool. And it lights up, which is also neat.
While we have this one displayed, we don't have them all up because that would be too gay, even for us. But they're still pretty cool, and my nieces are going to get some awesome Christmas gifts this year. Needless to say, my mom and sisters all love Steve. Not as much as me, but you get the idea.

Genius Comic Book Panel of the Day

I love classic comic book panels...

Steve's Fashion House Debut

If you missed the Monday two-hour episode of Fashion House you missed the classic line Steve contributed to the show. Fortunately, some wise soul uploaded the commercial onto YouTube and you can now watch Morgan Fairchild deliver the line right from your computer!

It's the very first line she says in the commercial, and it's pure genius, if I do say so myself.

To lay the backstory... Steve and I were at our friends' Christmas party last year. (We'd say who our friends were, but they already know the story and LA is a small town so we don't want to offend their friend.)

Anyway, it was a very cold night out when Steve and I stood in line for a sassy pomegranate martini. That's when Steve spotted a woman wearing a denim mini skirt, flesh-colored pantyhose, a Bedazzled belt (she later told us how she made it herself), a camisole blouse, floor-length leopard print coat and some spiked boots that a hooker in Jersey was desperately trying to locate.

Steve immediately grabbed my arm and said, "Honey! She put..."

Well, I'm not going to say it here because then it would ruin the line in Fashion House. But what I did do was scramble for a napkin, wrote down the line, and now it's soap opera history!

Now some of you may think this is stealing on my part. It is. But here are three things to think about. 1) I gave Steve credit, and I also gave Gloria's character on the show his last name as a thanks. 2) Having good lines like this is what has kept me employed, and that has helped us happily pay our mortgage every month. And 3) there is an old adage that says, "Talent borrows, genius steals."

Meditate on that today.

The Writing Process

If you missed last night's episode, you missed the big catfight between Morgan Fairchild and Bo Derek. It was fun, but while watching it I realized how much this show differs from normal shows (Um... beyond budgets. Duh.). For the past couple weeks I've been tossing about phrases like writing episodes, working on production rewrites, etc. It can be confusing, especially if you have an idea how a mainstream network show runs because we're not like them.

So here's how it works for us.

We have a head writer/producer, who is given the original telenovela material. Fashion House, for example, ran in Cuba and looked like it was shot with an old RCA video camera. With that info, she or he updates it to work for a US audience while retaining certain telenovela sensibilities-- over the top plots, sexy people taking clothes off all the time, campy stories, catfights, etc.

The series is then broken down into episodes, with some major focal points throughout and all of it leading up to the final episode. We write the entire series before it's shot, and in the case of Fashion House and The Heiress all the writers sat down in a room and read through the entire series so that we could work through plot problems, smooth out dialogue and make the series feel like one voice. This is what I was doing last week when I said I was working until all hours of the morning.

Writing the entire series at once allows the production team to shoot the series like one really big movie.

So currently, we're waiting on more notes, and once those start coming in I'll be busy again. And once shooting begins, the current job will be over for me... pray that I have another one soon after.

You see, at the Mondo-Ricko blog we not only loves to laugh, but we also loves to educate.

WORD OF THE WEEEEEKKKKKKK!!!!! (Oct. 9, 2006)

The word of the week is: Snatchel

Definition: Noun. A large amount of any item that is acquired through sexual performance. Usually associated with money.

In a scene:
Steve and Rick see a sexy woman on Sunset Boulevard.

RICK: Oh look! That's Inari Vachs, the Playboy Playmate I used to write comedy sketches for when I worked at Playboy.

STEVE: She looks very happy.

RICK: She should. She made a snatchel of money while working on that show.

For more Words of the Week, visit the Archives!

And We're Back... With Fashion House & More

Hey Kids,

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted. Been super busy on The Heiress, which is the next telenovela I'm writing on for MyNetworkTV. It will start shooting in a couple weeks and premiere in the new year. Super good stuff...

Tonight (Friday) there will not be a Fashion House episode in order to have a very special two-hour event next week. Yes, if you watched on Thursday, Maria had her wedding. Did she get married? Um... Well, if you haven't seen it, I won't say anything.

Check out Soaps.com for detailed summaries and such about the show. They also have some message boards that cover the show and people talking about what they think is going to happen. Amazing.

I wrote yesterday's (Thursday) wedding episode, then Monday's first part was written by me and the second part was written by myself and funny man Ted Koland. Ted is now head writing his own telenovela, currently called A Dangerous Love with Maria Conchita Alonso for MyNetworkTV.

On a total side note, in the photo above are designers Harold and Hans. Sitting between them is the character, John Cotter. If you've been paying attention to this blog, my brother-in-law is named John Cotter. See, it pays to be my friend/relative. You get to be named after a womanizing blackmailer (which has nothing to do with the real John Cotter, FYI).

So last night, Maria got married. You'll notice this whole plot point about the wedding dress not fitting... Well, ala Mean Girls, Maria was fed lots of food by her fiance and the dress didn't fit so they have an emergency fix-it session. Someone in production decided to cut that bits about William feeding her and Maria figuring it out-- God knows why, we weren't there for that decision-- and a flashback was shoved into its place. I'm sure the fans are thrilled.
But the big moment was the end, which was capped by this lovely picture of Morgan...
...laughing with delight (which I stole from Soaps.com). SO GOOD! Just wait until the big fight on Monday's episode.

Oh, and if you saw the previews, you do hear Morgan's line that Steve contributed to the show. I won't say it here, but I'll put it in Monday.

I promise to keep updates regular starting next week. I'll even explain what the hell I've been doing on this show and why it's been taking up all my time. Have a great weekend.

Fashion House changes

Hey Kids,

Well, things don't always work out as you think they will... Turns out, between all the pre-empted episodes because of sporting events, as well as MyNetworkTV doing a big push for the Morgan Fairchild appearance episodes, they are not showing the episodes exactly when I thought they would. We're talking media blitz, promotion, big-big-big. Um... but no, none of the writers are invited.

Still, it should be a fun thing. As soon as I know for sure on the Morgan stuff I'll let you know.

Oh, and I think I'm going to work on the Fashion House drinking game. With all the flashbacks they've been plugging in I'm sure you'll be lit by the first fifteen minutes. Nice!