Lately everywhere I turn I see guys I went to college with. It started with Snakes on a Plane. I noticed Todd Louiso in the credits, so I watched the set-up with the passengers carefully but didn’t see him. Turns out he was the snake and venom expert they consult about half way through the film. You may also remember him as the nerdy scientist in the Rock. I wonder if he was disappointed he didn’t get bitten to death in SoaP.

Then I’m reading a magazine article about upcoming movies and I see that Todd Phillips has directed a film called School for Scoundrels. Todd was roommates with a friend of mine and we shared a taste in punk rock. I’ll always remember him as the guy who booked the infamous G.G. Allin to play at NYU’s Loeb Student Center. Who would have guessed that the school wouldn’t like an act known for stripping naked, cutting himself with broken bottles, and throwing his own excrement at the crowd? Ironically, this was key to Todd’s career, as he directed a documentary about G.G. Allin called Hated, which had the good fortune of debuting mere months after G.G. died (also in NYC, at a show I may have gone to if I hadn’t been working that day).

The other night I’m flipping around the TV and I notice that VH-1 has done yet another “I Love the 80s” series. This makes #3 and one wonders who long they can keep it up. Well, sure enough there’s my former suite-mate Michael Ian Black (not his real name). I think he and that Hal Sparks guy have turned these nostalgia shows into full on careers. That dude still owes me money from the phone bill he skipped out on at the year’s end too. I’m coming to collect, Schwartz!