Hobbies and pastimes of the reinvented man

Some movies -- “The Goonies,� “Gremlins� and “Stand by Me� among them -- would not have been the same without him. The actor who began his television career at the age of 8 is back on the small screen, a featured resident of “The Surreal Life,� an unscripted series on the WB that asks a handful of film and television actors to share a house, while the cameras roll.

The single life

My life is so crazy. It stays busy. Up until a year ago, I rolled out with my boys and we’d go to some fun, cool happening social club-of-the-month. I’d just sit in the corner, and different young ladies would come up to our table. So, if I wanted to meet some girls, I met some girls.

Home, not alone

Then I met my wife at a club over on Las Palmas. It was love at first sight. We don’t go out clubbing now -- that can create too much tension between us: Some girl will come on to me; some guy will try to hit on her. So we stay home. We want to spend quality time at home together. My office is in my home; while she’s doing her Suzy Homemaker things, I’m working.

In our free time, our favorite thing to do is to cuddle up in front of the big screen. I’ve got close to 1,000 movies -- my all-time favorites are “The Godfather� series, “The Color Purple,� “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,� “The Wizard of Oz,� “The Wall� by Pink Floyd and “Memento.� I have a Playstation 2, with at least 20 games and as far as music goes I can bust out some of everything from Eminem to Janet, to Madonna, D12 to Dr. Dre. I’m pretty self-sufficient when it comes to home entertainment.

Eat & retreat

If we’re not eating in, we may go to my favorite restaurant, Dan Tana’s, or to this hole in the wall over on Riverside, Los Burritos el Chavos. And I’m a vegetarian so sometimes we’ll go to this vegetarian Chinese restaurant in Chatsworth called Vegetable Delight. They have everything from sweet and sour pork to broccoli beef, but they use fake meat and it tastes great. Then sometimes, if we want to hear a little live music, we’ll go to Toluca Lake, to Genghis Khan.

Playboy scene

Some Sundays we do movie night up at the Playboy mansion. It’s a lovely place and usually you’ll find a couple of celebrities there -- people who’ve met Hef in different times and different periods -- it’s a strange sensation. You do it like you’re going to a family dinner every week.

I’ve been going there for about 15 years -- I started just after I’d made “The Lost Boys.� I went with my father. I met Richard Pryor, Dudley Moore and all kinds of people.

Surreal

Now I’m in “The Surreal Life� where they’ve got seven celebrities living together. A VP at Warner Bros. promised me that it was not going to be a low-brow show. Then I find they’re publicizing it as ex-superstars, C-list actors or the former sidekicks to real stars. But I’ve reinvented myself. And I’m releasing an album with a song that will address my frustrations. It’s just going to hit the radio waves in about a month or so. My single? It’s titled “Walk the Dog.�

-- Carolyn Patricia Scott