As the Labor Day weekend winds down, we welcome back... HOLLYWOOD. As everyone in the industry knows, from July 4th until Labor Day, H'Wood shuts down for vacation. The only reason it resumes in early September is so everyone can get back to their offices and prepare to go off to the Toronto Film Festival.So where did they go? Well, there’s always the usual suspects. The Four Seasons Maui and the Big Island of Hawaii. Jackson Hole, Wyoming for those who look good in jeans. The south of France, Tuscany, and Cape Cod but only if you can rent a house that’s at least a hundred years old and is wired for broadband. The Hamptons, once a mainstay is now iffy. Spielberg was on the fence as to whether it’s still hip. A a number of agents and producers rented homes in Maine as well this year, just in case.
African safaris have become passé. Someone found out about the San Diego Zoo. And Africa in general is losing its luster since several features made there tanked domestically. Lake Cuomo in Italy is by Clooney-invitation-only. India took a hit after SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (there are some poor sections -- Yuck!!). Santa Fe is no fun now that Julia Roberts has screaming kids running around. And Cancun is jejune.
But this year the new hot sexy destination was Uruguay. Everyone’s got to check out Uruguay, man! It’s soooo awesome! Fabulous unspoiled beaches (for now), all that uh, Uruguayan cuisine (steaks), and it only takes 20 hours to get to (it’s at the very bottom of South America).
If you're reading this and you live in Uruguay, I hope you were in the cabana renting business.
How did Uruguay become so hot? My guess is Brian Grazer made a wrong turn in Brazil.
But you heard it here first. Uruguay. In two years Barry Diller and Brad Grey will have homes there. And in three there will be a film festival. So head down there. They'll all be back for the month of December. Join the A-listers. You’ll come back with great stories, a golden tan, and an adopted child.
Damn, now I won't be able to get a table!
ReplyDeleteJejune Cancun is wonderful, although the Côte d’Azur can be equally immature. But the source of the real cachet has clearly eluded you Mr. L. Knowing Hollywood, it certainly can’t be Uruguay’s reputation as generally the least corrupt country in South America. OK possibly because it was the first on the continent to recognize same sex civil unions. The rush to Maine is still sort of jumping the gun on that one.
No the real source of Uruguay’s new popularity in the industry is a complete misunderstanding. Word got around Brentwood that the country’s capital was something called Montyvideo. From there it was just a short leap to the buzz that parliament met in a stately building designated as Monty Hall. Now seriously, who in LA cannot be drawn to a country whose capital city rings of a game show host’s highlight reel, especially when they are led to believe its national motto is “Let’s Make a Deal?”
Thanks for affording the opportunity to clear all this up. What? Montevideo? Well, nevermind….
.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletenah, this year a lot of people cut back... the jersey shore was especially welcoming
ReplyDeleteI think the popularity of Uruguay for Hollywood people can be summed up by a specific line from The Simpsons episode 'Bart Vs Australia'.
ReplyDeleteHello
ReplyDeleteIts really interesting and amazing place for vacations.
I found Uruguay is the nice place to spend your time having fabulous beaches and having spacial cuisines..
Hope i will be go there for vacations.
Thanks
Apartments in Barcelona
Jeez, you've attracted some of the finest spammers with this post.
ReplyDelete(and, not for nothing, but Uruguay is about 1500 miles from the "very bottom of South America".)
Hey you're actually talking about a place I've been. I LOVED Uruguay, but tell me what's not to love about staying at a Four Seasons, watching Polo, drinking fabulous wine and having amazing wine. But the best day was taking scooters into Carmelo to hang with the locals. Yeah, it was hobo-trip.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOK...you go to Uruguay...and I'll go mine....
ReplyDeleteIf you steal, steal blatantly, and steal from the best....
WV: imormpla - 'I'm normal in Uruguayan
Nothing like a couple of weeks in Pumpkin Center to refresh those creative juices.
ReplyDeleteI've never understood why people want to go to the same places as other people as opposed to somewhere they actually have a spot in the heart for.
ReplyDeleteBiography Channel (in NYC, at least) is showing a bio on MASH tonight, 8pm EST, if Ken or anyone else is interested...
ReplyDeleteI went to the west coast of....
ReplyDeleteMichigan. And only for the weekend.
I suppose that's not any better than the Redneck Riviera, but at least it's a spot that is in my heart. (And having been in the Redneck Riviera, it's not bad, either.)
Carlae:
ReplyDelete"drinking fabulous wine and having amazing wine."
What's the difference? Do you drink one kind and intravenously take the other kind?
WV: pressess - Gollum bug-eyed at and suddenly wanting a newspaper press after seeing one.
My screenwriter husband and I went to Portland Oregon in August, because we heard it was THE hot spot in the PacNW.
ReplyDeleteTurned out it was just hot. Horribly, horribly hot. (Still greener than LA, tho...)
word verification--ausnes: the state of how Austrailian something is...
heh, forget about unspoiled beaches, uruguay was the turist hot spot for argentina during the 90s, we've spoiled those beaches plenty.
ReplyDeleteand how can you be at the "very" bottom of south america and still have "unspoiled" beaches anyway? (wasn't patagonia a hip place recently?)