The Booze Clues/LA MetBlogs meet-up was a great success!  It should be noted that I don’t necessarily define success in competitive terms, and finishing solidly in the middle of the pack is fine with me as long as everyone has a good time.

We actually had two (sort of) related teams at Cuba Libre last night. “The Fisting Trojans” (made up of USC Marching Trojans, I believe) were led by MetBlogs reader Heather, aka “fatpinkchicken,” who brought so many friends they broke off into their own team. “The Know-It-Brawlers” were reader Brian, aka “RoyalGravy,” Twitterpals @MissRFTC, @Lemonodor, Charley and myself.  As noted, while neither team claimed the top spot, both battled valiantly. Most importantly, a good time was had by all.

Many thanks to everyone who came out last night, as well as the Booze Clues organizers and our hosts at Cuba Libre. You all increased my fun exponentially. If you weren’t able to make it, don’t worry. This is L.A.; there is always more fun to be had. I’ll hope to see you next time. If you’d like to get on the email list for the next Booze Clues, load a message into the tubes and shoot it over to “boozecluesla (at) gmail (dot) com.”  Tell them you heard about it at LA MetBlogs.

 If you can’t watch the KTLA morning news on Thursday, set your tivo to record it.  Billy Robinson, LA Blogger better known as the 99 cent Chef will be on and cooking a few of his 99 Cent store creations.   

A bit more from the email he sent me on Tuesday.

The 99 Cent Chef’s premier live local TV appearance is scheduled on KTLA ‘s Morning News show (channel 5) for this Thursday (15th) on their 9am – 10 am show. I will be on air about 9:40am with a teaser appearance at 8:10 am.

The Chef will do a cooking demo using 99 cent ingredients; and the dishes include: Pita Pizzas, Eggplant Hummus, Ragu alla Bolognese, and Mini-Banana Puddings on vanilla wafers (with a trendy topping of bacon bits?). 

Join the Chef this Thursday morning for a budget culinary local TV first,as the Chef tries to cook and hold a conversation at the same time!

If he’s as good on tv as his blog and youtube adventures this could be a fun break from the traffic and weather reports.

Also..belated congrats to the 99 Cent Chef who was a finalist in this years Weblog Awards.

If you were lucky enough, you got to know Glenn Goldman, owner and mastermind behind the notorious Book Soup on Sunset.

We were all shocked to learn that Glenn passed away on the afternoon of January the 3rd, 2009, after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

A memorial for Glenn is being held at the store this Friday, the 16th of January, at 7pm. Show up and see what all the fuss is about. This is absolutely the best bookstore in this city (and many others), and Glenn will be sorely, sorely missed.

Book Soup
8818 Sunset Blvd.
W. Hollywood CA 90069

L.A. Live has announced that it will host the largest public viewing of the Inaugural events in Los Angeles on the morning of January 20th.  Taking place in Nokia Plaza, Councilwoman Jan Perry will host the live feed from Washington, DC beginning at 7 am with the pre-ceremony events.

As a side note, they are encouraging people to take public transportation.  It sounds like a smart idea, particularly if you can catch the Red Line at any point.

For more information or to get further details visit L.A. Live’s site here.

Found this over at the wonderful LA.Streetsblog and felt that it’s a fascinating chance for those of us who commute to work by alternative means to have our methods given some attention.

(Note: I am not a douchey “I HATE ALL CARS” commuter and I also don’t think this project should exclude those who drive to work. By all means, everyone should participate!)

KCET’s “SoCal Connected” division is doing a piece on commuting in the large and lovely city of Los Angeles. They’re asking people to either submit photos or a video of your commute method, the distance, and the length of time it takes for you to get there.

Read the rest of this entry →

If rubbery, artificially bloated lips and a smooth, expressionless mask that is actually your paralyzed facial muscles is your cup of tea, then women of Los Angeles, (and some of the men, too,) rejoice! Allergan, the company that brought you Botox (and raked in $600 million from it in 2007 alone) has a new product that will make your eyelashes burst with growth, causing people to ask, “Have you ever thought about getting into therapy?” “Are you wearing false eyelashes?”  At least according to one of the human guinea pigs (a pharmaceutical industry VP, no less,) in the trials conducted for FDA approval.

Today’s NY Times has the story, but this being Los Angeles (and I include you too, Orange County,) our sprawling city, recently reclaimed by the Prince of Plastic Surgery, will surely see the fruits of Allergan’s most recent labors, generously peopled as we are with self-adoring, yet fragilely insecure types who aspire to “reinvent” themselves on the outside in an attempt to conceal, if not drive a stake through the hearts of, their emotionally crippled inner selves.

The stuff is being marketed under the name Latisse, but really, it’s just Allergan’s glaucoma treatment drug, Lumigan, repackaged and marked up “slightly” in price.

During my time in LA, I’ve gotten used to seeing the boob jobs, puffy porn lips, strangely placid faces and perky little nosejobs. I suppose I will get used to the overgrown eyelashes too. I keep telling myself, in the latter case anyway, anything that makes the world a little more like Liza Minnelli can sometimes be a good thing.

Photo: Chameleon/Wikipedia; public domain.

A Street Shot

New York-based photographer Martha Cooper is probably most famous for picking up on the collision of hip hop and graffiti back before it was fashionable for white dudes to “make a statement” by going around the world to tag up other city’s walls (see Banksy).   From this Friday, January 16 to February 13, Echo Park’s Subliminal Projects – home of Shepard Fairey and the insanity that are his “limited edition” Obama posters that cause hipsters and EBayers to line up for hours and hours, Star Wars-Episode IV-on digital projection-on-opening-weekend-style, in the hopes of scoring a $50 print – will house a new Cooper exhibit.  Entitled “Street Shots,” Cooper looks inside this graffiti meme to document inner city kids turning trash into toys and exercising a type of creativity that only poverty can engender.   For those looking for the intersection of scarcity, children, and ingenuity, this exhibit is a match made in heaven.

Subliminal Projects is located at the base of the hill before you get to Dodger Stadium – i.e., 1331 W Sunset Blvd.  There is an opening reception Friday night, from 8pm to 11pm, which I’m hoping will translate into free food and booze.

President-Elect Obama has a big stimulus package. Los Angeles County Supervisors want a piece of it.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Los Angeles County officials are proposing projects that include more than $25 million to create renewable solar energy sources for county operations, $8 million to computerize some medical records at county health facilities and $186 million to pave roads.

You can download the entire list of proposals (.pdf) here.

In their request for federal funding, L.A. Supervisors included a eyebrow-raising variety of “shovel-ready” infrastructure projects for the region, such as:

• $8,000,000 for solar power projects in various parks
• $350,000,000 for new female detention facilities
• $90,000,000 for a new data center
• $4,083,000 for the replacement of large park lights with induction lights
• And $220,000 for a beach restroom solar powered lighting program

And that, friend, is why is takes 23 years to build 10 miles of subway.

Photo from silatix’s photostream

I might be a bit of a latecomer to the newbie party happening here at L.A. Metblogs, but I’m really excited to join the crew! I’m usually running a little behind anyway, so it’s fitting. My name is Jodi and while not a native, I have called Los Angeles home for the past 14 years, which is longer than anywhere else I’ve lived. I took to L.A. right away and never found that I needed to ‘get used to’ it.

Having resided mostly in small towns and cities on the East Coast and in Texas, the move here was a big change for me. Not only is L.A. the most expansive place I’ve lived, but it is by far the most diverse. The people, geography, lifestyles, and cultures fascinate and energize me. Sometimes I feel like I’ve learned more from my time here than in most of my years of formal education.

A health care professional by day, I pursue crafting, writing, and photography in my spare time. Nature and my pets are often an inspiration for my creativity. I also attempt to take advantage of all that Los Angeles has to offer from music to art to hiking to film to geek-centric gatherings and beyond. There is always something to do, which is one of the reasons why I don’t get enough sleep.

I appreciate the opportunity to write for Metblogs and am looking forward to sharing my love for and my unique perspective of life in L.A. My musings can be found elsewhere online and yes, they often reflect my unhealthy obsessions with tote bags and rodents.

There’s something to be learned here. Maybe that newspapers follow too much convention, or they think too much alike. I almost dismissed this as an anomaly, until journalist/blogger Darleene steered me to Best Front Design where they noticed a larger trend:

The Columbus Dispatch did well with the images, but it could have done better with the words… The Sun created a juxtaposition that was as clear as black and white. An early version of the Press Journal shows the Bush presidency at its best – vacant.

So, yes, besides the example cited in the Sun, I’m going with my first instinct: newspapers are following convention a bit too much.

Images of referenced front pages below…

Its a fraud. I know the author.  Its one of those bizarre connections you get in facebook.  I knew Jeff through Ruth666 while we were in college.  I think he actually moved here long before either of us did.  Today’s “what Jeff is doing” bit made me laugh as well:

Jeffrey G is laughing because the made-up letter he sent to Dear Abby is running today: http://www.uexpress.com/dearabby/

I had to laugh.  Checking the link takes you to todays Dear Abby “YOUNG WORKERS MUST LEARN HOW TO ‘DRESS FOR SUCCESS“.  Its pure fiction.  

For the full letter, used with Jeff’s permission, you must make the jump.  Anyone care to count down how long before its yanked from the web after this is read? Read the rest of this entry →

From the Daily News:

Los Angeles Unified school board members voted 4-2 Tuesday to authorize sending layoff notices to about 2,300 teachers, although the district superintendent said the notices might not necessarily be sent.

“It is strictly precautionary mainly, because I am trying to put pressure on Sacramento,” Superintendent Ramon Cortines said.

He vowed not to send any notices before the board’s next scheduled meeting in two weeks, adding the notices would be sent only if there were no other options to save the jobs.

The president of the teachers union condemned the vote, saying it was more than a bluff.

“It’s more than pressure,” said United Teachers Los Angeles President AJ Duffy. “No matter what Cortines said the reality is with Megan Reilly, the district chief financial officer, who has a budget based on laying off 2,200 teachers.”

Cutting education is no way to solve a budget crisis. Who is running this joint, and why haven’t they been fired?

Though it happened nearly a month ago, /film’s report about vandals defacing Los Angeles advertisements for the Aniston/Wilson embarrassment Marley & Me with tags that reveal the painfully obvious climax of the movie is totally cracking me up. Then again, as /film points out, I probably wouldn’t find it as funny if it were a film I cared about. If you really don’t want to know, haven’t managed to see it in the three weeks that it’s been open and can’t figure it out on your own, then I suggest you not click through.

In yet another unfortunate step towards the Korean-izing of Little Tokyo, Rich Alossi over at Angelenic reports that gigantonormous Japanese one-stop market shop, Mitsuwa, will close on January 25th.  Mitsuwa sadly confirms this in awesome mistranslated English: “As of the 25th of January, Little Tokyo Store will close a business. We greatly appreciate your business and support for 24 years since 1985.”  A 50% clearance sale is scheduled for the week before the closing, from Monday, January 19 to (sniff) Sunday, January 25.

Mitsuwa’s closing comes as an increasing number of Koreans are moving in, and immediately around, Little Tokyo.  Capitalizing on this influx, Korean investors last year bought the Little Tokyo Shopping Center (which Mitsuwa anchors) with plans to turn it into a Korean-themed shopping center and mall.  As Rich points out, “[W]ith changing demographics, increased outside investment and an aging population, the neighborhood that for decades had been the center of [Japanese-American] culture is now facing perhaps the biggest challenge to its identity in years.”

There is, of course, Mitsuwa over on Centinela (home of one of the best bowls of ramen this side of town, Santouka), but the loss of the Little Tokyo location sucks symbolically.  The beginning of the end of Little Tokyo?  I hope not.

I did a double take on my morning constitutional as I walked by this section of grass a few blocks from my house. That’s not grass, baby, that’s some high quality faux turf. And I must say, well done neighbor. No water or maintenance needed and your hellstrip always looks fresh and tidy.