We were told the Boom! Studios party was 'where everyone was going to be'. We got there — no open bar — no food. Can it be called a 'party' if you're just telling people to meet you at a bar? Ron Hogan of GalleyCat says no.

Anyway, we spotted Stephen Baldwin. We didn't actually go looking for him he just paraded around the room a couple of times. We didn't find him on the schedule. Saturday, Adam Baldwin (no relation) is on a panel for the series Chuck. We don't know what Stephen is doing here. Didn't ask. Actually, now that we think of it...don't care.

About 10% of the people who attend Comic Con, come dressed in costume. But they get about 99% of the press coverage. It's just like at protests, when everyone there is just going about their business and it's the one schmuck throwing rocks that makes it on the news.

We were inside the G4 party and fully intended to follow around a news crew and take some pictures of them. You know, covering the people that cover the news. Instead we opted for taking a picture of these two ladies having their picture taken in a photo booth.

We went to the Island Hotel in Newport Beach last night. The problem with Orange County is that as soon as we hit the border and start seeing the tract homes and the vaguely familiar strip malls and the also vaguely familiar regular malls - we have that stupid theme song "California" stuck in our head.

So humming a song so cheesy that the first time we heard it thought was a parody, we found the Press Club members having cocktails before dinner.

We noted how good looking and toothy some of the 'journalists' in the OC were. Unnamed reporter was heard to remark, "They let PR people into the press club now. PR people?! What do I have to say to them?" Mystery solved.

Now we would have been able to name that reporter and everyone else but as it turned out everyone's co-favorite fishy, Mayrav - couldn't make it last night. Yeah, no pitching in for gas. No knowing who everyone was. So if our coverage of the event seems spotty - it's Mayrav's fault for having a life outside of FBLA.

If you ever go to one of these parties and want to find us - locate the food and there we will be. Part lack of social skills - part lack of time to buy groceries.

We can't think of a better way to bring writers out to meet editors than an open bar. Flies to honey. Editor-in-chief John Mecklin was there shaking hands and taking cards.

We also met writers Anne Toole, Stephanie L. Smith and Douglas W. Miller - all turned out to be 'Harvard grads' - which some of our regular readers know that we use that term as code for 'Simpsons' fan' or 'bartender'. They, it turns out - went to college.

We also accosted Sara Miller McCune, Chair of Miller-McCune Central Board, before we left. We asked why she chose to have a national magazine in Southern California (Santa Barbara) instead of New York. She told us that her late husband didn't like New York. Aha take that East Coast snobs!

We then asked her how she liked the experience of creating a new magazine. She told us,"What good is being alive if you can't get things done?"

Writer's guidelines and contacts can be found here.

From their site:

The editors of Miller-McCune and Miller-Mccune.com, a new 90,000+ circulation national print magazine and its extensive Web site, are looking for sophisticated magazine writers in Los Angeles. So we're going to a bar, of course. Lola's, actually, from 6-8 p.m. on Wednesday, June 18. This is a chance for accomplished journalists (and academic researchers who deserve a wide general audience) to get in at the start of the next great American magazine. Or, at least, to get a good stiff drink.
RSVP to: theeditor@miller-mccune.com

We tracked down William Yelles over at the mag and asked him one question that we are sure is of importance to LA writers:

FBLA: Does Miller-McCune pay competitively?

WY: Not sure what other places pay but I would say it is competitive since I know it is more than what freelancers made at my previous employer (The Hollywood Reporter). You can be the judge for an appropriate adjective: For your own information, we usually pay $1/word, stories average 800-1200 words, many longer. We're also open about finding new bloggers for new blogs we're considering launching that fit into the topic areas on our site if the author is an authority on said topics, pay there will be different.

FBLA: That's competitive. Sweet. See you guys there!

Nameless Hollywood publicist read our post about the "Swag Bag for the Homeless" Party and sent us this note:

I must have had the same thing as you, as I came home and ate a whole tub of Ben and Jerry's....hehehe

Dude our laptop is breathing...

We were at Flaunt Magazine's "Swag Bags for the Homeless" party last night. It was held at the Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Blvd., home of the very first Academy Awards and one of three hotels claiming Marilyn Monroe is haunting them.

This was not the nerd fest that FBLA is accustomed to attending. Nope. At this party - only the waitress was a Harvard grad.

Anyway, we met actress, cellist, FBLA reader and winner of our ticket contest Catherine Campion.

We also spotted comedian Chris Reid, a ton of people that looked like are extras on The Hills and someone that could have been - but probably wasn't Nicole Richie. We also had a drink with writer Jim Vallely who confirmed that there will be an Arrested Development movie. And there was of course, our host Bill Maher who our mother loves and is miffed that we didn't get a picture with him. Sorry Mom, we were trying to be cool.

The party was great, but after being there for a couple of hours, we think we got something that we're calling 'contact munchies' because we went straight home - ate a whole pizza and watched TV for an hour without it actually being on. Ahem.

The annual BEA Cares fundraiser was held at the Orpheum Theater (across the street from the Eastern) downtown, with Lewis Black as the performer.

He was brought on stage by his long time friend Sara Nelson, editor of Publishers Weekly. Nelson dished on Black by telling the crowd that he used to carry a bowling ball with him when he traveled. Which, to our disappointment she never elaborate on. She also said that she used to go watch Black work when he was first starting out. "I must have laughed at the same Dan Quayle joke a thousand times." Nelson announced to laughter.

After Black performed stand up, Nelson came back on stage to interview him. They talked about his new book Me, of Little Faith (in stores tomorrow), religion (or lack there of) and the fact that Black was penniless until he was 40 years old.

"I've always liked the act of writing." Black offered the literary crowd.

Then when Nelson asked if he was going to write another book, Black said,"Not fucking soon."

Picture are blogger Tina Dupuy, author Donna Sozio and author Lisa Daily.

The Weinstein party Friday night had 10 different food items being passed around. Eight were bacon. One was crab. Ahem.