lemme tell you about last night, man.

it was the angela daniels birthday spectacular, so we did things up right, hollywood style. drove out to meet angela and her buds at the hollywood and highland complex, on the corner of hollywood and highland in... hollywood. never really hung out there before - went very briefly once a few years ago but it was late night and we were there maybe 3 seconds. but anyways, wandered around a bit before the rest of the people got there and just kinda took it in. saw where the kodak theater was and it just kind of left a weird taste in my mouth. you know, the oscars used to be held at the shrine auditorium. that building's amazing. absolutely gorgeous. very classy. and while i haven't seen the inside of the kodak theater... essentially the oscars are held at the mall. which is just weird and kind of dumb.

so i headed out to the street when angela and company got closer so they could pick me up, and the very first star i see when coming out of the place was ryan seacrest's. some tourists went walking by as i stood in front of it, one of em says "look, it's ryan seacrest's star" and then they all start busting up laughing as i slowly flipped it off and snapped a pic. my problem with his star is this: steve martin is just getting his star. and how long has ryan seacrest been around? also, how'd he get a star that's right smack in the middle of tourist town? his star should be out on a back road somewhere where the jerks and losers live.

i don't particularly have any problems with susan sarandon, but josh hates her with the fire of a thousand suns so i took this one for him...

so got picked up by angela, jamie, shannon and dave-mike and we went to jamba juice... please don't hit me josh... we didn't buy anything, i swear! one of the guys that worked there just wanted to give angela a birthday hug! really! no delicious smoothies for us! headed back to the mall and had some eats at johnnie rockets. god i love grilled cheese. it's just amazing. our waiter there was completely bored, looked like he would fall over from the ennui at any given moment every time he came to the table. later, before we were getting ready to leave, he comes back to the table and asks (very bored-like) what the birthday girl's name was. then he must have snorted like fifty pixie sticks, because he comes back out with some ice cream and shouts "HEY EVERYONE WE GOT A BIRTHDAY GIRL HERE! HELP US SING HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ANGELA!!! WOOOO!!!"

craziness. the ice cream was good, too. maybe too much whipped cream on top, but you can't look a gift ice cream in the mouth. mostly because it don't have one.

wandered around a bit more, then went to kojis. got some drinks and went to a table outside. and as we were chattin, havin a good ol' time, we start to realize that through the window, at the bar, is an actor we all recognize, but from different places. i said i swear i saw him in the first season of 24, someone else said 6 feet under, someone else said texas chainsaw massacre... my research this morning shows it was none other than eric balfour, who i just remembered was also on the oc a bunch of times!! holy crap! how did i miss that last night! we could've serenaded him with phantom planet's "california"!

i don't see stars in their natural habitat very often, and having him and his friends sitting at the counter facing the window right across from our table... it was a bit like watching monkeys at the zoo. they were very interested in a sidekick someone was passing around, probably the one paris lost and definitely containing nekkid photos of her...

then they came outside and i had the brilliant idea of trying to get a covert photo of him with my trusty cameraphone. so i got everyone to go to the other side of the table for a group shot to commemorate angela's birthday. then i tried to discretely direct them as to where the gap should be so we could have a photo of eric, too. my phone really seems to like daytime conditions better, as evidenced here... the quality just goes way downhill.

i did, however, get lenka trying to cop a feel with angela.

and finally, the photo we're selling to star magazine later today - STARS! THEY'RE JUST LIKE US! they drink red wine at little tables outside a sushi bar in hollywood!

shortly after these photos were taken eric and his friends went back inside... i'm sure it had nothing to do with our very, very covert operations. what a fun night. happy birthday angela!