Inland Empire.

I wanted to spend the day looking for used books and maybe even weeding my own collection for disposal or resell. I did not. I feel as though whatever is making me feel bad could really turn on me and put me out of commission for awhile. Instead spent the day resting at the house.

I watched the 2006 David Lynch film, Inland Empire. I felt I had to being a proud 909 resident. I do not feel I have to review it here for you, readers. That wouldn't be an easy thing to do anyway, nor was it an easy film to watch. Yes, even for a David Lynch movie, it was a challenge. This movie runs three long hours with not much dialogue, not much in English, shaky lingering shots of lamps, darkness, blurriness, and even if you love Laura Dern, Justin Theroux or David Lynch, this is not an easy one to recommend. If you are an Empire resident, know the film does not take place in the IE; a bulk of it was filmed in Poland. Luckily I knew this beforehand having read about the film in the past.

A few notes...

At about 2 hours and 20 minutes in (ha!) there is a trio of homeless people. One of them, a small Japanese woman played by Nae, has a pretty good part in which she explains how one could take a train and/or a bus from Hollywood and Vine to Pomona for $3.50. (Yes! Finally someone is speaking in this film and it is about Empirical's loves: Pomona and riding the bus!) She goes on to talk about her friend, Niko, who lives in Pomona with her monkey. Niko is a drug addict that has turned to prostitution. She gets by on her popularity--good looks and a blonde wig.

The homeless Japanese woman's boyfriend is the easily recognizable Terry Crews, you may know him from various bad films and television he wastes his talent with. Okay, he might be good as the father in "Everybody Hates Chris" but I've never seen that.

At the very end of the film, we see Niko in blonde wig and the monkey. She appears right as the credits begin to roll. It is a brief appearance by Asian American fetish model Masuimi Max. Also making a cameo behind the rolling credits, folky-bluesy musician Ben Harper. I am not much of a fan of his music, but he's from Claremont, so at the very least, he deserves a mention here.

EDIT: One more thing...Considering the time this film was shot (2004-2005-ish), the fare the homeless girl quotes, $3.50, is totally reasonable. She seems to imply that you could take a bus from Hollywood directly to Pomona which is less likely. My suggestion would have been to take the Red Line (there is a train station on that very corner) to Union Station. From Union Station, you would transfer to the Foothill Transit bus line #480 which is the fastest way eastward as it mostly travels by freeway. Today the 480 will not go any further west than the El Monte Bus Depot, so today she'd have to take the Silver Streak--which is faster anyhow. (It's also nicer, newer, cleaner, bigger and has free wi-fi.) Depending on the time of day and day of the week, you could accomplish this with $4-5 and within a couple hours.