My Painful Night With James Franco...

I'm grateful to my good friend, Denise, who got me out of the house on a freezing Thursday night to view a short film, entitled Francophrenia (or Don't Kill Me I Know Where the Baby Is) with James Franco - yes, THAT James Franco. The delicious, adorable, sexy James Franco. We experienced the film, and then stayed for a live Q&A session with James and friends.

We sat close enough to throw tomatoes, but sadly we hadn't thought to bring any. It's not entirely Franco's fault. It was someone else's brainchild. To sum it up, they pieced together random clips of Franco filming a scene for General Hospital, then overlaid an invented, schizophrenic, internal monologue to create a brand new work of fiction. Believe me, you don't want to know any more. It was art at its stupidest.

However, one unexpected benefit of attending this event was it gave me an opportunity to study this rather intricate arrangement of air vents attached to the ceiling.

Yeah, I was that tuned out.

This is the exit door on the right side of the theater.
So close and yet so far. I wondered what fun, cool things might be happening on the other side of that door in the West Village.

Here's Franco and friends engaging with the audience for a little Q&A. One devoted fan presented him with a well-researched collection of study materials for his upcoming role in J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. She even organized it all for him in an attractive folder wrapped in ribbon. Goes to show you can't believe everything you read in People Magazine, because he flatly informed her that playing such a role was news to him and there were no such plans for it in the works. Not even close. He had his errand boy collect the folder from her in any case. Neglecting to even thank the woman, he glossed right over her offering of love and moved on to the next question. She looked embarrassed, a little stunned, a little mopey. How many days had she labored over this gift for her heartthrob?

I'm not usually this mean, but for some reason watching this dissed-fan scenario play out was the highlight of my evening, and made coming here all worthwhile.

As always, Denise was great company so I have no complaints. Hey, it's one more night I'm not Netflixing so that's something, right?