The day after the day after the Night Before - Jake in Variety and New Weekly

Much of today has been spent trying to track down Daily Variety, thanks to IHJ's Stephanie who set me on the trail. You'd have thought finding Daily Variety in Beverly Hills would be easy, but then I also hadn't calculated on having helicopters hovering over my hotel in the not so small hours of the morning because Elton John happened to be having a little soiree. But, in the end, I found a copy, which contains a picture of Jake Gyllenhaal - with David Arquette - at the Night Before party. I didn't pack my scanner so, until I can scan it, here is a photo of the picture. And it is a little picture, unfortunately. Read on for details on the other photos in this post.


While being delighted to see a picture of Jake at the event, it also makes me cross that I didn't find a bigger pile of coats to hide behind. I know some people think Jake looks sad here, but the party didn't start until quite late and he just looks tired to me - after all, they did all have to pose with MacDonalds, play video games and try on several pairs of sneakers before being given a drink and a Big Mac. The article itself makes no mention of Jake but it does say that, including this year, the event has raised $31 million since its inception in 2003. For more details - as well as an extremely long list of people - see Variety.


In the Beverly Hills Hotel Polo Lounge, before the event, someone pointed out Kirk Kerkorian to me, the owner of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, looking a lot younger than his 80-odd years. Maybe I should have gone up to him to thank him for my very pleasant stay in his hotel in January 2007. Despite having the longest corridors I've ever had to walk in a hotel, the beds were the comfiest and I soon got used to the green glow.


Jake interviewed for Rendition in Australia

The release of Rendition in the theatres of Australia has led to the added bonus of more publicity from Jake. Yesterday, New Weekly published a 'Five Minute' interview with Jake, which contained some interesting questions and answers. I was particularly relieved to hear that, although Jake has had some falls off his bike, he is 'still here'. Here are some extracts from this all too brief piece:


Q: Are you okay with being a sex symbol?
JG: Am I fine with it? Do I have a problem with it? I don't know. Look, it gives me the opportunity to do the work I want to do. Ironically then, I have no problem with it because it's sort of more about the work I want to do.

Q: You bulked up a lot for Jarhead and you seem to have kept some of it. Do you work out a lot?
JG: I don't know. [Laughs.] I do exercise, but I don't really focus on keeping myself looking physically good. I want to feel good. It makes me feel good to do that. So I guess it stayed. I don't know — I feel a lot skinnier than I was then.



Q: How did you get into it?
JG: My best friend is a cyclist and he had a tandem bike. One day he was like, "Let's ride." I got on the back of the bike and we were riding and we just started pushing so hard, working together on this tandem bike. It was so much fun. I just remember that one ride — from then on I started riding. Then I guess Lance Armstrong heard that I biked and so he called me one day: "You want to go for a ride?"


Q: There was this phase where there were always photos of you, Lance and Matthew McConaughey …
JG: [Laughs.] Yeah. Well, then I had to go to work. We all hung out during summer, then we all had to go to work.


Q: Your fans seem to worry that you're not happy. Are you happy?
JG: That's really sweet, actually — it's really nice. I would say, "Stop worrying about me and ask yourself."

Q: Perhaps they just get this melancholic vibe from you ...
JG: I can be melancholy but I also feel a grand spectrum of feelings — not just happy, not just melancholy, not just one thing. I'm pretty aware all the time of my feelings.


WDW On the Road (on foot)

For those of you who are polite enough to be interested in my tour of Jakeland, it continues! Today was the turn of Beverly Hills and a little bit of West Hollywood. So here are some photos from Jake landmarks, with some others of the gentleman himself in situ, which are scattered through this post, so you can match them up. For those with keen eyes and memories, some photos contain more than one image that should be familiar from pictures of Jake. The pictures include North Bedford Drive, Rodeo Drive, Santa Monica Boulevard (south), the Beverly Center (speedos anyone?) and the 'other' Urth cafe on Beverley Drive. I would have taken a picture of the Ivy but it was full of people wanting to have their photos taken by paps, and not by me.










Includes pictures from IHJ and Just Jared.