O Trader Joe, you always know just what I need!

After my root canal fun, I’m off any of your more robust foods for a while. Instead my menu consists of all foods small and yielding, like these nifty spinach nuggets.

I’m a freak and eat them cold right out of the package, but you can cook ‘em up college student style (toaster oven), fry or deep fry in a pan, or even do ‘em Jalopy style in the microwave.

They’re yummy! For once foods intended for dirty hippies serves regular old humans like me. Hooray for everyone!

(or at least everyone at Trader Joe’s)

Hot as shit, middle of the afternoon, just look at ‘em all out there on the sidewalk, lining up for radioactive chili and Schvitz colas….

Writing for Creature Corner got me on a lot of mailing lists, mostly PR companies. I get press materials and screening invites for all sorts of movies, not just horror. I realize it wouldn’t be reasonable to have separate mailing lists for every genre, but it was pretty funny that time I got an email inviting me to promote the Electric Company DVD on Creature Corner.

Today’s email brought a teaser poster (see right) and plot synopsis for Crank, which appears, at a glance, to be the worst movie due out this year (though possibly so bad it’s good). I just had to share the (incredibly poorly written) synopsis with you:

Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) is about to begin his morning with an unexpected wake-up call. Groggy, practically unable to move and with a heart that’s barely beating, Chev answers his cell phone and hears the voice of thug Ricky Verona, who reveals Chev has been poisoned in his sleep and has only an hour to live.

As it turns out, Chev is a hit man who freelances for a major West Coast crime syndicate. And a run of the mill job the night before that was supposed to be like any other hit went unexpectedly awry: Chev let his target go in an effort to quit the professional killing business and start a new life with his girlfriend Eve.

Now, Chev must keep moving – literally – to stay alive. The only way to prolong the poison from stopping his heart is to keep his adrenaline flowing. As the clock ticks, Chelios cuts a swath through the streets of Los Angeles, wreaking havoc on those who dare stand in his way. He must rescue Eve from danger, stay two steps ahead of his nemeses as they try to eliminate him, and search for an antidote to save his own life.

Alas, poor Lions Gate…

LA Weekly published their 99 Essential LA Restaurants for 2006.

I looked over the list and have to say that I was pleased with Jonathan Gold’s representation of haute and casual, a broad range of cuisines and he seem to have covered most of the basin except for places like Long Beach and San Pedro.

But I’ve only eaten at six of these restaurants. 6 out of 99. I liked all of them except one. I’m of two minds about that. One part of me loves it when an outside authority validates my taste … but then again, I don’t like it when my favorite place gets mobbed with people and loses some of the charms that I knew and loved.

The fun has just begun!

Like so many other people in LA, I went to go see Superman Returns this week. That, in and of itself has nothing to do with LA, BUT did anyone else who saw the film notice that Jason White (played by Tristan Lake Leabu looks uncannily like LA music blogger Jax who runs Rock Insider? I’ve prepared this image to prove my point. Now, realize, I could find NO pictures of this kid online, so these angles aren’t exactly ideal, but I still think you’ll see the likeness. Clearly, you’ll have to go see the movie to get the full-effect, but c’mon, who’s with me?

UPDATE! The Gray Kid points out that Rock Insider was mantioned in an Entertainment Weekly (which Koga posted about here) featuring Superman on the cover. Coincidence!? I think not.

Meredith, a Boston transplant, wrote us asking, “Do swamp coolers work in the LA climate?” I think this is a perfect opportunity to discuss tips on keeping cool over what is gearing up to be a long, hot summer.

But first, to answer Meredith’s question (she’s concerned because she’s heard “it’s supposed to be dry for them to work, is LA too moist?”) – I must claim ignorance. Swamp coolers supposedly work best in dry climates, and not at all in higher humidity, because their design relies upon cooled water molecules being blown through the machine, which would be hindered by pre-existing moisture in the air.

My first guess would be that yes, because L.A. has a dry desert climate, but our summer humidity averages from about 85% in the mornings to 68% in the afternoons (stats from CityRating). However, as I write this the humidity in the Hollywood Hills is 38%… so, perhaps it all depends on when and where you’re using a swamp cooler in the city. Beach areas, I’d imagine, would prove less effective for the moisture belching swamp coolers than the deep valley.

Have any blogging.la readers had experience with swamp coolers? And now, to broaden the subject, any new tips on keeping your home cool over the summer?
Read the rest of this entry →

Last night a few of us peddled around some of the more industrial areas of downtown and ended up over near the South Central Farm. While the farmers and protestors alike have all been removed, I was pretty surprised to see all the banners and protest signs still hanging up. Seems weird that they would arrest people for being on the property, yet leave up signs attacking the property owners. I was also ammused by a “Bush + Rove = Criminals” sign laying discarded just inside the fence, you know, because they had a hand in this whole farm situation. Here’s a few phonecam shots.

I threw in a casual reference to this in my KFC post, and it got a comment, so I should probably explain.

I’m sure there likely IS such a thing as MA, but I just made it up as a shorthand to describe the kind of people who regularly meet us for dinner at Musso and Frank.

Feel free to enlighten me via this forum.

6pm to closing @ 3rd & Fairfax Famers Market – more details here. Yes, blogging.la is buying lots of drinks.

I grow tomatoes. It soothes me to hang in the garden when the sun is setting and just be quiet with the lizards darting around. Right now, I have 10 plants, six different varieties. And this year, they are simply out of control. Maybe it’s the early hot weather, maybe I’m just blessed, but this monster here was a seed that I put in a pot on March 1st! Okay, okay, here’s my secret: I grow worms and make compost with seaweed….. It’s now taller than me, (I’m 5’8) and I should harvest my first red one in two weeks or so. I can’t wait to haul out the Miracle Whip and make a fat, sloppy tomato sandwich!

Early Girl, San Diego, Big Boy, Better Boy, Sweet Yellow Cherries….but my favorite that I can’t wait to taste, is a new one for me, a heirloom variety that my family back down south has been growing and saving the seeds for 80 years! When my uncle in Georgia found out I was growing tomatoes, (and boy was he shocked that a city girl could grow) he sent me the family “Moody Tomato” (it’s an old family name) seeds with the warning that now I had to save seeds and pass them around. So if you want to help start the Moody Hollywood Strain, let me know!

Then you’ve got to check out Kentucky Fried Chicken‘s new FAMOUS BOWLS.

Much like the toilet they harken, this taste treat is nothing more (or less) than a bucket of all but pre-digested processed “foods” from KFC.

Want fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and corn on the cob? Too lazy to gnaw the greasy fried rat off the bone, the corn off the cob, or just slop up them mashed taters? Then this bucket o’ shit is right up your alley.

And a shoutout to Hudson for bringing this to my attention during our Misanthropes Anonymous meeting at Musso and Frank.

Tomorrow, the NuArt on Wilshire out on the West side will re-open after being closed for a month. And it’s opening with a very LA movie – Wassup Rockers! Latino punk rock skaters bored in South Central take the bus to Beverly Hills for a change of skate territory, where they hook-up with white 90210 girls. What follows must be like an Alice in Wonderland/Dorothy in Oz adventure as the group of friends must find their way home. Certainly a different slice of Los Angeles. Works for me!

That’s gotta be my favorite quote this week from an official. It was said by Los Angeles Harbor Commission President S. David Freeman in reference to the new plan to reduce pollution in the harbor area.

That’s right, it’s a plan, not a proposal or a study … it’s a freakin’ plan and it sounds like it’s a step in the right direction.

A improvements in the rules regarding port use include:

• Trucks: reduce particulate matter emissions, modernize fleets and focus on alternative and/or cleaner fuels. (Deadline: 2011)

• Oceangoing vessels: reduced speeds to be expanded beyond current zone, docked ships to use electricity from harbor to power utilities (AC, lights, equipment, etc) instead of diesel engines. Ships will also have to be cleaner Рeither using cleaner fuels of pollution capture devices.

• Cargo-handling equipment: reduce nitrogen oxide by using cleanest available equipment. (Deadline: All equipment must meet EPA Tier 4 standards by the end of 2011.)

• Harbor craft: All local craft will need to meet EPA Tier 2 standards and will convert to Tier 3 standards as engines become available. (Deadline 5 years for retrofitting.)

• Railroad locomotives: engines to be replaced with Tier 2 models. (Deadline 2008 for switch 2011 for line haul.)

Read full article at The Daily Breeze.
Read the rest of this entry →

As many of you may or may not know, blogging.la has a team entered in this year’s Lotus Festival Dragon Boat Races. We’re racing at 1pm on Saturday July 8th, and the b.la bloggers (me, Heather, Markland and Joz, who is in the photo with Eric Garcetti at right) will be joined by Mack from LAVoice, Shannon from Sha in LA and some of our beloved blogging.la readers.

However, it has come to our attention today that the Council District 13 team is talking smack about us, on orders from their leader, Eric Garcetti. He’s got his henchmen bragging about their rowing prowess on LAVoice comments. And Central City East says he hopes the CD13 team can back up their claims to the title of “Rulers of the Lake”.

However, we’ve got two factors on our side. First of all, Councilman Garcetti won’t be in his district’s boat this year to compete. But, more importantly, we have the heart and the moxie and the determination to win. I did not go to years of Girl Guide canoe camp just to get beaten in this race. We’re not racing directly against CD13 – they’re in the political competitions, and we’re in the media races – but we’ll be comparing times later on.

We’re also calling out for cheering and supporters. So for those of you not racing with us, come on out and cheer for us. We’ll be racing at 1pm on Saturday the 8th, and everyone’s welcome to join us for breakfast at the Brite Spot beforehand. We’ll be there to strategize and carb-load at 11am, in preparation for our dash across the lake.

Hey, CD13 – it’s already been brought.