Look at the stars see how they shine for you

'Twas my first day back from the country (AKA Dallas, TX) and I was ready to dive headfirst into some Los Angeles-style goodness. First up, was the world famous-I think I remember this place in that Paula Abdul music video with Keanu Reaves- Griffith Observatory. The place was pretty neat with exhibits about the planets (sorry Pluto), the sun, and space in general. Their food court menu could use a little more creativity however. My suggestions: Meatier-bites (meatballs), serve only Milky Way candy bars, or Hubble Yum bubble gum. I can do all day with these things. Anyway, the new and improved movie was awesome, even though Krystle fell asleep at some point between Copernicus' discover of a helio-centric galaxy and exploring Mars. The rest of the time thereafter was spent exploring exhibits, but most of the stuff I knew already. The sun is a star, an eclipse is when..., you weigh this much on...whatever. The best presentation is what I like to call the Armageddon Simulation. You basically enter mathematical factors about an asteroid hitting the planet and watch your results. Needless to say, everyone using the exhibit plotted the TOTAL DESTRUCTIONS of mankind. Nice.

Continuing with the stars theme of the day, later on that day we went to the Stars concert at the Orpheum. Merch was a scam (15 for a CD?? C'mon!) but the best part of the show was our seats. We were right up front for all the action which consists of Amy and the other dude rocking out. Despite said rockingness, the guy in front of me still managed to distract me with his spastic , hilarious dancing. Stars played all their slammin jams: Elevator Love Letter, Ageless Beauty, Reunion, One More Night, and stuff from their new CD. All in all, the show was epic and my ears are still ringing. In the end, Krystle scored a set list and one of the flowers the band was throwing to people from the stage.

A Chocolatier in My Hood

Yea, how many of you can say that there's a chocolatier in your neighborhood? I'm not talking about See's or Godiva chocolates, but someone like Willy Wonka on a much smaller scale. Ok, so maybe my chocolatier doesn't give out golden tickets for a once in a lifetime chance to visit her factory, but she does make awesome fresh chocolate. Usually, it's hard to find parking around the shop since the store is located in that weird intersection where Beverly, Commonwealth, and 1st Street mege, but lucky me found parking right in front! I asked Ms. Park (the French-trained chocolatier) what I should try since I love dark chocolate. She suggested I try her pave noir: dark ganache which is 72% cocoa (absolutely amazing...I learned to savor the taste of chocolate by not actually eating it, but rather letting it dissolve in your mouth...brings out other flavors you wouldn't have noticed in the first place!) I also tried her aztec which has habanero, caribbean, thai chili and apricot. That guy has bite! It was actually a little too spicy for me, but worth trying if you like a little bite. And since it was my first visit, she threw in a classic truffle...delish! Check out the pic here.

L' Artisan du Chocolat
3364 West First Street
Los Angeles, CA 90004

Stuff My Face: The Glendizzle Report

If you've checked out my food photo album, you'll notice that there are more pics of mexican and thai food than say italian and chinese. Not that I discriminate against other types of food, I just happen to love those two. Anyway, I checked out Kozy Korner Thai Cuisine in Glendale today cuz the last time I parked behind the restaurant, the garlicky aroma was tempting me. At first glance, the place looked small from the outside, as if it was for take-out only. Once you're in, you'll notice that the place is definitely "Kozy" with it's yellow and grey walls and rattan chairs. I can imagine this place getting cramped during lunch on the weekdays, but when I went, it was practically empty. The owner of the place is uber nice and delivers your food with a smile. No joke. I tried the fried wontons and the pad see ew. Compared to other pad see ew's I've had, this was very delicious, not too peppery, and not dry at all.



Pad See Ew...not eewww at all!

Kozy Korner:
213 W Wilson Ave
Glendale, CA 91203

Dallas Concert Series Part 1: Girl Talk

I've been to Dallas many times (especially over the weekend) for business travel and it never occurred to me to check out a show. Maybe some subconscious loyalty to the LA scene or plain laziness after a long workweek was keeping me from venturing what Dallas has to offer. It was a comment in passing by co-worker ("You're going to be here this weekend. You should check out who's in town.") that led me to the Dallas concert listings. Lo and behold, everyone's favorite mash-up artist was playing that very night and with tickets available no less. I didn't have no place to go, so I went to the mash-up show.

Opening up was an LA-based guy called Daedalus. Unfortunately, because the line to get in was surprisingly long, I missed most of his set. But it sounded like cool some banging dance/mash-up style music to me. Next up was Busdriver. He tore it up and I shouted a request for one of the few Busdriver songs I know, The First Black Astronaut. Some other dude in the audience, an apparent Busdriver fan acknowledged me and said something to the effect of "Yeah man, he should play more older stuff." I nodded agreeingly and got the hell out of there just in case homeboy might call me out on my lack of Busdriver knowledge. That being said, after watching his set, I'll probably revisit my Busdriver collection in greater detail.

I made my way to the right hand of the stage and figured since it's Friday night, I might as well try to get up front because I've heard that Girl Talk shows get nuts. So, when Greg takes the stage, a whole chunk of the audience follows suit, and I actually end up right up front. I expected a Girl Talk show to consist of Greg and his laptop and that's what I got. Regardless, he does put on a good show by jumping around and dancing with the audience. He doesn't play straight up tracks off his CDs but mixes them up a little bit. For example, instead of using Neutral Milk Hotel as background to some slammin jam, he would mash it up with the Carpenters.

Some noticeable samples last night were: Lil' Mama's Lip Gloss, Smashing Pumpkins' Zero, Toadies' Possum Kingdom, PB&J's Young Folks, Carpenters' Superstar, Sweet Child o' Mine,
and everyone's favorite Since U Been Gone. The highlight of the night was when the stage collapsed due to the amount of people dancing around. Moreover, the actual floorboards were bending and felt like they were going to burst at any moment. All in all, it was an awesome show, but if I catch them in LA, I think I'll hang in the back. My rocking out in the front days are numbered and now I have to do laundry.