Entourage: Let's Blog It Out

By Mark La Monica

Sorry, folks, but this week's edition of the 2007 Entourage Hot Stove has been unplugged. Turns out, we're having some boiler issues in the Blog It Out offices. Plus, with the price of oil at the moment, it's best to repair the issue instead of burning up the office and the money.

Translation: I'm swamped with a big ski project for work (uh oh, here comes a Funkmaster Flex "Buy my CD! Buy my CD!" shameless plug: this ski project launches Sunday at newsday.com.ski), so I don't have the time to compile the Hot Stove Report this week.

In the meantime, I assure you four things:

1) The Entourage book is en route, I'm told by the good people at Simon & Schuster, so we should have a book review posted by Tuesday's nationwide release.

2) During the entire length of this ski project, I've been randomly saying to people, "This looks a lot bigger than the one at Big Bear."

3) During the entire length of this ski project, I've been randomly saying to people, "If you can ski Hunter, you can ski anywhere."

4) The Hot Stove heats up next week with a special double issue.

See you on the slopes. In the meantime, Happy Halloween. I'm going as a fan on Sloan, so basically my costume is the same as any other day.

By Mark La Monica

"Entourage" is being written now (or at least discussed being written) and will be filmed in the coming months. Of course, we'll have to wait until next summer to actually see the episodes.

"Entourage, the blog," however, keeps blogging it out in the offseason. Frequent readers of this little Internet nook will recall last year's "Entourage Hot Stove reports."

Well, they're back. Every Thursday afternoon, we'll update you with the career happenings of the actors on the show. If there's news, we'll throw it on the hot stove. If not, we'll make some up. Just kidding.

* Ari teaches Mrs. Ari how to handle the paparazzi. Quite amusing little post from TMZ. Hopefully the video will download for you.

* Fashion Week in Los Angeles is in full swing and Perrey Reeves has been on hand, spotted in the front row at Gregory Parkinson and at the opening of a Jenni Kayne boutique, whatever that means.

* Drama only has 8 points on Fafarazzi.com. I don't know what the heck that means but it seems to me he should have more.

* Jeremy Piven makes a special appearance on the "American Hustle" DVD from Katt Williams, to be released Nov. 20.

By Mark La Monica

A few months ago, Adrian Grenier, the real-life Vinny Chase, got some online flack (which is probably the most potent and least believable type of flack) for palling around with Paris Hilton.

Some of those pesky online folks didn't believe it was for his documentary about paparazzi and celebrity culture in the States. Some did.

More importantly, who cares?

Of course, the fact that people on the gossip sites and shows wrote and talked about it speaks perfectly to Grenier's documentary topic.

Here's a good story about Grenier and his documentary from an Australian magazine.

By Mark La Monica

The good people of HBO are making it slightly easier on your wallet, at least for today.

Today (Tuesday, Oct. 23) from noon-4 p.m., it's 20 percent off whatever you want in the HBO store.

I suggest the MGA T-shirt.

By Mark La Monica

Possession of the Entourage Season 3.5 DVD, officially titled "Entourage, Season 3, Part 2" provides on-demand access to one of the greatest moments in show history: Johnny Drama at the Grand Canyon.

Is there more of a rallying cry or sentimental moment than seeing Drama, post-meltdown, fall to his knees overlooking the Grand Canyon and scream "Victory!"?

Having access to this scene at any point in your everyday life makes it worth the purchase.

But, as with all DVDs these days, extras are necessary. (Gone are the days of "Hey, let's make viewers who purchase 'Goodfellas' flip over the DVD to watch the rest of the movie.)

Included on this DVD is an interesting panel discussion involving the cast, creator Doug Ellin and director Julian Farino. The Museum of Television & Radio panel was moderated by Elvis Mitchell, the guy who interviewed E, Vince and Billy Walsh for Interview magazine.

The panel is from March 2006, but is still interesting to hear the backstories and thought processes behind some of our favorite scenes.

If you're already a subscriber to the Entourage podcast on iTunes, then you've already seen the "Anatomy of Entourage" featurette that goes behind the scenes of the Season 3.5 finale. If you're not a subscriber, then you'll enjoy this 11 minutes. It basically is the real-life version of the "Medellin" documentary that opened Season 4.

One of the traits of "Entourage" is bringing guest stars and periphery characters back to the show on occasion. Remember Rufus, the Home Video Solutions guy from Season 1? He came back in Season 3.5 as Rufus, the auto body repair guy.

In the three audio commentaries, show creator Doug Ellin talks a lot about how and why he brings characters back. He also mentions the new houses for the guys each season and how the lack of continuity isn't much of an issue for the show.

In the interest of full disclosure, in the commentary accompanying "The Resurrection" episode, aka Drama at the Grand Canyon, Ellin hammers Newsday, "my hometown paper," for bashing the show in its first season.

In the interest of fuller disclosure, I had nothing to do with that back then. I was only a sports writer at the time and "Entourage, the blog" wasn't even in my radar.

Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, Doug Ellin and Kevin Connolly (in one of the three commentaries) point out their favorite lines in certain scenes and how they went about delivering them or the backstory about how they decided to do things a certain way. It's pretty interesting stuff.

Most notably, in "The Resurrection" commentary, Ellin said he went into writing that episode with the idea of getting Dillon an Emmy nomination. He did.

Epsiodes with audio commentaries:
• "Manic Monday"
• "The Resurrection"
• "Adios Amigos"