They converge several times a week like flies on a dead carcass. Blocking the street, the sidewalk, hanging their cameras over the fence. Making boatloads of noise.    Just for a glimpse of Lindsay Lohan, whose DJ girlfriend is reputed to live a couple of blocks from me.

It’s super irritating. And I’m only a neighbor, not the one they are stalking.  I can’t imagine what it must be like to try and have any semblance of a ‘normal’ life if you are the object of their affection!

When I simply pulled up to take their picture, and there were about three times as many lounging around waiting, they immediately, and very aggressively turned their cameras on me.  And forget talking to them, reminding them this is a neighborhood where people actually live and want to easily pass on the street without them blocking the way, they got downright abusive, shouting and wanting to know where I lived.

I know this is a problem specific to LA, and in the grand scheme of things a minor one… but it really does seem like there should be better laws in our city that prohibit paparazzi from blocking the sidewalk and the street.  And aggressively pursuing people.

After a couple of days of this, I stopped a police person one morning who happened to be in the neighborhood and he said there was nothing he could do.  He agreed to stop by the address and check to see if any of the photographers cars were missing front or back plates, and give out tickets for that.  He said that typically they remove their plates to avoid traffic tickets from the traffic-cams when they are running red lights in pursuit of the celebrity.

I guess it is part of what comes with the territory…. but it affects a lot of people, not just the person who chose to be a celebrity.

(not really)

So I got this email a while back from the Aetherius Society inviting me to join in on their World Peace Pilgrimage up Mt Baldy.

[check out my Flickr set]

I’m not one for religions but I thought this might be a good opportunity to hike up a mountain – something I would certainly never do without benefit of escort.

So I said yes, and on Sunday morning I showed up at their HQ, backpack and all, ready for an adventure.

Invited a couple of friends but only Misty took me up on the offer. By the end of the journey she’d cultivated some serious buyer’s remorse, but we both made it to the very top: 9300 feet – and I’m pretty proud of that.

Oh yeah, and now there’s world peace.

You’re welcome.

If you haven’t been paying close attention it’s possible this may have completely slipped past you, as it seemed to happen almost over night. Everyone in LA should already know about the Kogi BBQ truck and it’s famous twitter account announcing where you can find eats at any point in the day. But what a ton of people don’t know about is that Kogi is just the tip of the iceberg. In the first part of this year super delicious food trucks with matched twitter accounts have been multiplying like gremlins at a water park. This is basically a business model that didn’t exist 12 months ago and is now making bank for a growing number of mobile eateries. It makes sense if you think about it – make super tasty food that instantly attracts a loyal following and then not only drive it directly to them, but send them text messages to let them know when it’s within scarfing range. I know that anytime I see a tweet from the Marked5 truck saying they are in my neck of the woods I rush over for snacks. Read the rest of this entry →

Julie Phineas of Lezgetreal recently came face-to-face with homophobia at the FedEx Kinkos (now renamed FedEx Office) on Hawthorne Blvd. in Torrance.

As she tried to access The Gay Ad Network site, a gay and lesbian advertising network, on the store’s self-serve computers, the computer prompted her for a password because it was considered an “adult” site.

Phineas met resistance when she asked an employee for assistance.

The clerk at the counter made degrading statements about what I was trying to view once I told her I was trying to print out a document from The Gay Ad Network.

She told me that I “would not be able to look at that stuff here”… She issued me a refund for the time I was connected to their self service computer, and while she did she felt it necessary to mention that “other customers would be offended” if I were allowed to view “site’s like that”.

I asked her who I could contact to change the filters. There was a sign on the wall with contact information and I asked her if I should contact the store directly or the number on the wall. She told me “Oh, they don’t have time for stuff like that” and waved off my question with her hand. Read the rest of this entry →

Check out CSA (that stands for Community Supported Agriculture) California. Here in SoCal, their produce comes from the Ramirez Family Farm, and goes directly to drop-off/pick-up locations in Downtown, the Valley, Mar Vista, the Fairfax Trading Post, and Marina del Rey.

It’s pretty simple. You pay $25 for a bag of fruits & veggies, all locally grown and organic. All the info is here. This week’s bag o’ goodies includes Romaine lettuce, broccoli, parsley, yellow onion, garlic, corn, red bell pepper, yellow peaches, white nectarines, pluots, pricots, a choice of spinach or kale and a choice of celery or asparagus. Yum!

What’s particularly fun about their downtown location, in Little Tokyo, is that they’ve got a roundabout where you can just drive-thru and pick up your produce from your car. Easy peasy!

“From Hollywood, the newlywed capital of the world; here come the newlyweds!” will never sound the same again to Prop 8 supporters. Pity.

The Newlywed Game, the game show that started in 1966 and is now hosted by Carnie Wilson and sponsored by the eHarmony personals site, is scouting for married same-sex couples via Craigslist. Contestants need to be legally married in one state. From Craigslist:

NOW CASTING!!!

The Game Show Network is currently casting season 2 of

“The Newlywed Game”

Producers are seeking fun, outgoing couples to participate in the next season of this classic television game show!

Gay Couples: *Marriages must be legally recognized in 1 state

If this sounds like you or someone you know, please contact the Casting Team IMMEDIATELY at:

TheNewlywedGame@embassyrow.com

PLEASE INCLUDE: Names/Ages, City/State, Phone Number (with area code), Email Address, Wedding Date, and PHOTO.

All participants must be 18 years of age or older and married 2 years or less.

eHarmony recently got on the big gay bandwagon thanks to an anti-discrimination suit in New Jersey that forced them to climb on board. Before that, the site barred same-sex match-ups for their users. Times change.

The Voting can commence!

We are breaking with the routine a bit here and opting for some hot summer night locations for our next Classic Eats. Based on suggestions, the votes include more ocean oriented locations as well as another Hollywood Classic Margarita Mexican place. There is also a spot for write in votes on this ballot as well, if you have a Hot Summer Night Classic Spot that comes to mind.

Click Here to vote.

Click on past the jump for more info on the three locations listed.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Read the rest of this entry →

Ah, simpler times.

Books and media about the modern-day dilemma of finding the “right” private school for your 4 year old to attend is so overdone.  Someone needs to write a book about the travails of not interviewing, and not being interviewed by, elementary teacher-professors; about having to live with the fact that your horrible neighbors spawned their demon child the same time you did, which means their child is in your kid’s class, and there’s no imposed playroom interview to evaluate whether Chucky “fits in” with the class of ’09; and about not receiving weekly newsletter reports about how much the class is learning about organic farming.

Enter Sandra Tsing Loh, who makes an appearance on Tuesday at the Santa Monica Public Library to promote her newest book, Mother on Fire.  Mother on Fire is a memoir of her experience touring private and public school grounds in search of the right kindergarten for her daughters and (spoiler alert) chooses the public school and becomes a total PTA mom to boot.  It’s free, and you can pick up tickets an hour before the 7pm showtime.

I’m personally hoping that Tsing Loh also will offer an editorial on “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off,” an essay published in this month’s issue of The Atlantic Monthly.  There, she uses her extramarital affair and subsequent divorce  (“Given my staggering working mother’s to-do list, I cannot take on yet another arduous home- and self-improvement project, that of rekindling our romance”) as a vehicle to rail against marriage (“…isn’t the idea of lifelong marriage obsolete?”).  Even though she would have a bit more credibility if she wasn’t writing this in the aftermath of a tumultuous divorce, it is a fascinating read.  Much more interesting than the kid’s story, anyway.

Sure it’s a cliché, but Mondays generally suck. Just ask that cartoon cat Garfield or Office Space‘s Peter Gibbons. If you do end up with a “case of the Mondays” tomorrow, I can suggest a cure. Laughter is supposedly the best medicine and The DingBat Show delivers. Four talented clowns promise to entertain you with their absurd, silly, and often quite bawdy show. Yes, I said clowns. Get over it and prepare to have an evening of fun that you will want to tell all of your friends about.

I can’t make any promises about what you will see, but the two shows I’ve been to have included, among other hilarity, burlesque performers, puppets, ping pong balls, and a potty-mouthed mother. The L.A. Weekly describes past events as, “Killer clowns have infiltrated Silver Lake, but these bozos are not to be feared — unless of course you’re scared to die laughing.” Unless you hate fun, I highly recommend taking a break from your usual routine.

The DingBat Show is tomorrow night, Monday, August 10th at El Cid in Silver Lake. Doors are at 7pm, show starts at 8pm. El Cid it located at 4212 Sunset Blvd. and can be contacted at (323) 668-0318.

From last Wednesday’s Arclight Cinemas eblast… finally a chick flick I’ll be rushing to!

Uploaded with plasq‘s Skitch!

Just curious as to who plays the shark or octopus, Meryl Streep or Amy Adams?

Last Thursday, I caught Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women at the Santa Monica Pier Twilight Dance Series, and, yee-hah, it was a hootenany of a good time.  I went *under protest* because I’m not a country + western music fan (Lyle Lovett being an exception).  I parked in one of Santa Monica’s plentiful and cheap parking structures along 2nd and 4th streets, but, due to the huge crowds near the Pier, I picked the farthest one away (between Arizona and Wilshire) and traded congestion for more walking.

Sorry for the lack of camera, but I can report that the Pier was packed (although many people were no doubt taking advantage of the mild weather and were not necessarily there for the music), as was the Pier’s parking lot. I did not get up to the stage area on the Pier, but rather, went to the sand just below and South of the Pier.  There must have been thousands of people on the beach, spread out on blankets, with food, drinks (and, based on the smell, lots of pot), and candles.   It took a few text messages back and forth to locate my gang.  How did people at Woodstock find each other?
Read the rest of this entry →

I’ve seen postings for lost dogs, lost cats, even lost parakeets, but doves?  Not so much.  I saw this posted outside a tony apartment complex on Ocean Park.

Mutaytor rocks out; pic by Colin Bowting

In my not-so-humble opinion, here’s the stuff going on this weekend that you’ll prolly want to check out.

Friday, tonight:
Black Heart Procession @ Spaceland: The San Diego maestros of mood bring their cinematic, dusky sound to Silver Lake.
The Mutaytor with DJ Wolfie @ the Roxy: With a Roaring 20′s theme tonight (you’re encouraged to dress up), this tribal-funk-fusion troupe includes cirque performers, burlesque, and bassist John Avila (ex-Oingo Boingo).
August Group Show opening @ La Luz de Jesus: Always good art. Always.
Barnsdall Art Park with Silverlake Wine: Artisanal wines curated by Silverlake Wine in one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpieces…good times.

Saturday:
HARD Summer Music Festival: Bangin’ electronic music until 4am, including classics Underworld, plus Crystal Castles, The Bloody Beetroots, Chromeo, A-Trak & scads more.
American Numismatic Association’s World’s Fair of Money: Geek out over rare coins, paper monies, and historic showpieces.
Topanga Film Festival: Kick it with indie flicks in the canyon.
Second Saturday Gallery Night in NELA: Be sure to check out the Southwest Museum, which has recently begun participating in Second Saturdays.

Sunday:
Closing night for Cirque Berzerk: Your last chance to see this amazing spectacle.
Hot Knives at Verdugo Bar: My fave veganbloggers/beerphiles take over the back patio at the Verdugo Bar for a bitchin’ summer BBQ–meatless, natch, but you wouldn’t know by tasting it.

Casting is underway for The Black Cat. Only six will make the cut. For many of the actors, it was just another cat-tle call.

The year was 1961.

Photo from UCLA Library Digital Collections

From david.nikonvscanon via Creative Commons/flickr

Five months to the day after the City of Los Angeles’ highly touted and justly reviled Prop B. for solar power lost at the polls, the Department of Water and Power’s top wonkdom showed up at City Hall last week to explain what they planned to do instead to turn LA’s copious sunshine into useful energy.

Problem was, no one there seemed to expect them. The City Council’s Energy and Efficiency Committee did convene, and there was a DWP item on the agenda. But it had been so long since the committee had asked DWP topkick David Nahai to come up with a substitute plan–you might as well call it a Plan B for Prop. B — that some committee members had given up on ever hearing one. The press ignored the show too (which was repeated that afternoon at a DWP commission meeting).

So there you were last Tuesday, with a huge bureaucratic sequoia falling silently in the political forest. The only echo of which was a full color billboard outside City Hall. It showed our mayor and said that LA was “successful” in ending the dirty burning of coal. Actually that isn’t close to having happened yet. And Antonio will have stopped being mayor seven years before it is supposed to happen in 2020. I couldn’t figure out who paid for the billboard.

The new Plan B was not, in fact, all new — although it little resembled Prop. B. But first, a quick refresher course on that defunct initiative… Read the rest of this entry →