Last week, I posted a list of what many of the brick-and-mortar retail chains were doing in regards to selling the Xbox 360 when it went on sale this morning (in some cases, at midnight).

As a gamer, I usually get a console on the first day it goes on sale, but this time around, I ultimately decided that with the apparent artificial shortages, it wasn’t worth dealing with all of the stress and hassle of fighting not necessarily the gamers so such as the ones looking to resell the consoles on eBay.

I guess I’m getting too old for this shit.

That being said, reading the war stories at Joystiq thus far (here, here, here, and .here), I’m curious to know what kind of hoops people had to go through around here to get their consoles this morning?

When you’re watching the weather on KCAL (waiting for an update on GATORWATCH!!11 of course,) do you ever get the feeling that Jackie Johnson is just going to stop mid-sentence and say, “Hey! My eyes are up here!”

. . . or is that just me?

This is a question I’d been meaning to ask, especially after Mark “The Cobrasnake” Hunter‘s recent profile in The L.A. Times, but after seeing Tsar as well as Juliette and The Licks last night, now is as good a time to ask: Have cameras ruined everything? (link via Stereogum):

Much has been written about the classic struggle/ symbiotic relationship between celebrities and the paparazzi. Much has recently been written about those photo sites like Last Night’s Party and The Cobrasnake and how they turn willing regular people into “celebrities”. But what about normal people who just want to go to a party and talk to other normal people without a camera being shoved in their faces? Who will speak for us? The answer is: me.

I don’t know if it’s because of the popularity of photo websites, the decline in the price of digital cameras (particularly SLRs) and the integration of cameras into portable devices like cell phones and PDAs, and/or the compelling need by many people to document every aspect of their lives, but nowadays it seems like everyone is armed with a camera.

Oh sure, when I’m at a concert for an artist I’m interested in, I’ll take photos. But the ironic thing is that when I’m at a party with friends, I usually don’t. Case in point were the recent Buzznet and Textamerica parties, where I just wanted to relax and have a good time, plus with other people taking photos around me, I felt they were covering things just fine.

We’ve had a lot of ranting here, here, here, and here about our recent bad driver experiences, which gives me all the more reason to continue on my series promising your enlightenment merely by driving in Los Angeles.

Take the jump to read part 2 and how to expand your view…
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A power outage last night sent me to the Evidence Room early, but the sheer brilliant joy of the show I saw there last night might lure me back there tonight.

Ken Roht‚Äîhe of the famed, original musical “99¬¢ Shows” that have been an increasingly popular holiday hit since he started doing them three years ago‚Äîis staging a series of benefit performances to raise money to mount the production. The show is four glorious singers performing the contents of Joni Mitchell’s “Song to a Seagull” album in its entirety. The only musical accompaniment is (miked) acoustic guitar, and, for a few songs, a small string section, courtesy of some wildly talented kids from the Renaissance Arts Academy in Eagle Rock.

It’s nothing less than transporting; in a few places, I was actually weeping with happiness, and based on the wild cheers, snuffling and puffy faces in the lobby afterwards, I wasn’t alone.

There is one more show at our lovely theater in HiFi tonight (call 213-381-7118) and one show at RenArts tomorrow (call 323-259-5700). Both shows are at 8PM and the suggested donation is 12 bucks (cheep). More than worth it, if you’re a fan of ungodly beautiful music, pure and true.

More info at the Orphean Circus site.

Sometimes, there’s something to be said against truth in advertising.

Lest people think that the artists I see live in concert fall under just one genre, earlier tonight I saw Tsar as well as Juliette and The Licks at The Troubadour.

They also have the unique distinction of being two of Tony Pierce‘s favorites. And now I see why he’s been raving about them so damned much. Tony P.’s word is as good as gold.

More photos of Juliette Lewis’ band here and photos of Tsar here.

UPDATE: I should mention that I had to deal with a rather rowdy crowd around me last night. I was just about in the front row and *this close* to Juliette, and as a result, was pushed and shoved ad nauseum during several of Juliette’s songs, which is par for the course given the nature of her music, but it pissed me off to no end. I wound up having to fend off the moshers by pushing them back and elbowing them (with limited success), and I even had my camera cocked and ready to use as a weapon (in self-defense) if things had degenerated even further. Adding insult to injury, there were at least two other photographers around me who had some items stolen… Photog #1 had two rolls of film stolen from his bag and Photog #2 had his camera bag (containing batteries, an extra lens, and a flash) stolen altogether. Considering that all I lost was my patience, I suppose I didn’t fare too badly.

UPDATE #2: Photo links updated.

I’m blogging from plugged-in civilization here at the Evidence Room but about 1/2 hour ago, my building and those in a 4-5 block radius (K-town adjacent) were plunged into blackout, once again.

It happened way more this year than it ever has, but this was the first time we were treated to a series of brownouts, first. Not even sure if that’s the technical term for what happened: half the lights in the building going out completely, half dimming to between 25-30% of full strength. Really, really eerie stuff.

I’ve yet to roll with one of the monthly Midnight Ridazz group bike rides — not for lack of wanting so much as for having too many excuses not to. But having just today finished my own little single-speed conversion project, begun back in August with the Bicycle Kitchen’s wheel-building class, I’m looking forward to publicly debuting it at tomorrow’s daytime ride to the Not A Cornfield space north of Chinatown.

Specs:

An afternoon ride to the Not A Cornfield project to see the site in its “Gold Phase.” We’ll take a route with some gorgeous views, then we’ll ride into the field for a corn potluck. Bring food for sharing and a blanket for lounging. Meet at Sunset Blvd/Griffith Park Blvd /Edgecliff Dr. at 3 p.m , ride at 3:30.
Hostessed by the WhirlyGirls.

I haven’t posted in a long time so I figured the best way to get things rolling again is to get something off my chest. One thing that’s been bumming my world out lately is every time I open up the LA Weekly to see what bands/movies are playing, my eyes get raped with a page of photos like these below. This Cobrasnake douche (wearing his own shirt no less) and/or Steve DJ Kid Millionaire Aoki (also wearing his own shirt, can you say self promotion?) with shit-eating-grins turned on standing next to some celebrity. Wow cool, look how unexcited Chuck D looks to be in a photo with you geeks. So yeah, it’s either these clowns with famous people like Hillary Duff, Paris Hilton, Good Charlotte (or some other talent-less shmuck… hey, as long as they’re famous right?) or some drunk chick in American Apparel gym shorts and cowboy boots with a can of sparks in her hand dancing to The Killers. What’s the point? I’m I missing something? Is this not totally pointless? Where’s the substance? I think it should be legal to egg anyone wearing one of these “Cobrasnake shirts” (pictured below and also product placed in the latest LA Weekly). I’m not the only one who thinks like this, check out TheShitSnake.com. Who wants to bet The Shit Snake will be at that 30 Second To Mars thing that was posted below getting their photos taken with the retard from “My So Called Life”?

Jared Leto and his band 30 Seconds to Mars is doing an acoustic in-store gig at the Virgin Megastore at Hollywood and Highland in Los Angeles on Sunday, November 20th at 2:00 PM (store website’s down but it’s still listed on the band’s website).

Think La Lohan will be around?

This is going to be some sucky news for anyone who actually enjoys record shopping but LA staple Aron’s Records is officially going out of business. This info is from LA Observed via Golden State Blog and while kind of upsetting, is not very shocking. What is shocking is where the blame is being directed. Anyone would have guessed fingers would be pointed at Amoeba since I can’t even count how many people I know stopped shopping at Aron’s the day Amoeba opened solely due to the ease of parking. Or maybe you could blame the shitty music the record industries have been cranking out for the last few years. But no…

[Klempner says] People simply aren’t buying CDs like they used to; they’re downloading, burning their own CDs, or file-trading online. “The iPod and lower-quality music is fine for them,” he says. “Some of our best customers haven’t bought CDs in years.”

Have you read a bigger crock of shit today? More like they haven’t bought a CD in year FROM ARON’S. Perhaps this guy didn’t get the memo that downloading not only doesn’t hurt record sales, it increases them. It’s such a cop-out to blame the “anonymous downloader.” The fact is that people are buying as much if not more music than ever, but they like it to be easy. While Aron’s was a great store it took an hour to find a parking spot and when I first started going there I was able to find what I was looking for, the last 3-4 times I went there they didn’t have what I wanted and weren’t interested in helping me find it. Amoeba takes seconds to park and since they have basically every record ever released in stock there’s no problems with finding things. And for new released, why even bother spending an hour going some place and parking and hunting for it when you can spend 2 minutes buying it on Amazon and have it shipped free? The problem isn’t downloading, it’s that the shopping experience sucks and people who don’t have to deal with that anymore aren’t going to.

Cabbie hands back 350,000 dollars in diamonds found in taxi

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – A Los Angeles taxi driver distinguished himself by his honesty after finding a pouch filled with diamonds worth 350,000 dollars in the back of his cab, police said.

At first, Afghan immigrant Haider Sediqi, 40, paid little attention when he found the small brown pouch in the back of his car after dropping off a fare at Los Angeles airport on Wednesday.

But later in the day, Sediqi’s jaw dropped when he opened the pouch to discover a series of clear plastic boxes filled with a fortune in cut diamonds, carefully mounted in Styrofoam.

The honest cabbie, a father of two who immigrated to the United States in the 1990s, immediately called police and handed over the king’s ransom in precious stones. [full story]

A fellow co-conspirator, Gloria Mattioni, has been in Milan for over a week. Although I’ve never visited Milan, her descriptions of the city and the weather sound dramatically different from the LA we know and love, especially in November. From her blog this morning I read her saudade for this city that most of us love.

Milan and I get along only from April to September. Any other month, I pay an unbearable price for my visit. And I start dreaming of the day I can come back to you, L.A. I did not give a damn about you for almost twelve years, treating you just as granted, and now I am all heels over head for you.

I am truly, insanely, sexually (as Mae West used to sign her letters) and passionately yours, L.A.

I can’t agree with her more. And with the sunny clear morning walks with the dog in the canyon, how can I consider leaving this dreamland?

After talking to a friend the other day about crazy landlords here in LA I decided that this needs to be a new series. I’m writing up my story shortly, this one is from a friend, if you’ve got one post in the comments or e-mail to me at sean AT blogging.la

A friend was discussing how her current landlord won’t allow her to have any pets and then went on to explain that shortly after they moved in he tried to evict them for having pets, except by pets he meant plants. That’s right, he said that houseplants counted as pets and they were violating the lease by having plants in the house and would be evicted if they didn’t get rid of them. Of course this is insane and they argued with him for a while. He explained that the plants would obviously ruin the floors in the same way a dog that peed inside would and that “what kind of person has plants inside anyway?” They explained back “they are called ‘houseplants’ because of just that, people keep them in houses.” Well at some point this landlord must have talked to lawyer who advised him that trying to evict people by saying that plants were the same as pets was not going to fly in court and he gave up but raised their rent to get back at them for it. Good times!