Even though news of my new bike Linux the Gentleman hit the blogosphere last week, here is footage of its first ride. I decided to hit up the Ballona Creek Bike Path since it's pretty much down the street from my place and it'll be good practice for if/when I start biking to work. The path basically goes from Culver City down to Dockweiler beach in El Segundo.
Scion tC for the win. As the locals would say "No need bike rack".
The entry to the bike path off of Centinela Ave. The Era of Biking has begun!
Ballona Creek wildlife. Even though the "river" smells kind of funky, I guess the ducks like it.
I take a break at the next entry point to the bike path. This is near the Beverage Warehouse. The meaty thighs are starting to feel the burn at this point. Jeans were a bad decision.
I see some cool cats living the good life once I hit the Marina area.
Finally hit the beach. It looks beautiful at this time of day, but I doubt I'll go for a swim any time soon. Now it's time for the long trek back to my car.
All in all, I realized a few things:
- My bike needs some work to get the speed up (road tires, higher gear ratio, remove extra weight, etc.) - The bike commute to work is longer than expected. If anything, I'll cheat and drive halfway. - There are some neat sites to see in LA if you look hard enough...*twinkle the more you know*
I like receiving mail - packages for my birthday, books I order online, other crap I order online, even my monthly subscriptions to various magazines. So I was excited to sign up for Netflix last week knowing that I would soon see my first DVD in the mail this weekend. Didn't happen. Instead I got this:
Yes, it's a plastic bag from the U.S. Postal service that says "WE CARE" with a note further saying that "We sincerely regret the damage to your mail during handling by the Postal Service. We hope this incident did not inconvenience you. We realize that your mail is important to you and that you have every right to expect it to be delivered in good condition." Blah. Blah. Blah. - Sincerely Your Postmaster
What it should have said instead was this:
Surprise! We ripped open your red envelope and dun stole your DVD of Eagle Vs. Shark. We don't really care that you subscribe to Netflix and paid for it, we know what's inside those envelopes and we collect them like homeless people collect cans. We try our very best to inconvenience you because we're tired of our polyester shorts and safari hats on summer days. Forgive us, anyway, cuz our tracking system isn't up to par to say UPS and FED-EX. Did you know that you can track the status of you package's route with their services? Amazing! Anyway, I don't know what Eagle Vs. Shark is, but I'm sure I'll enjoy the movie (I hope it's some foreign action flick, I love those). BTW, you have weird taste. -xoxo Your Postmaster
Next time I'll order some documentary about ant hills or a Nicholas Cage film. The douche better enjoy it.
Last week I checked out the Los Feliz street festival and was walking down Franklin when I noticed a pair of mushrooms just chilling between Hillhurst and Vermont. I don't think this is considered defacement of public property cuz someone actually took his/her time to paint them matching colors and even added perfect circles on the mushroom tops. I think this is a good start to beautifying LA. Take the fire hydrant in the background- it doesn't need to be yellow. Compared to the mushrooms in the foreground, the fire hydrant looks dumpy and neglected, it's probably jealous that the 'shrooms are gold. With a little love and paint, it could easily be transformed into a little droid or some sort of monster.
Anyway, going down Pico today, I saw this mosaic on a building on the corner of Pico and La Brea. I'm not sure what exactly this mosaic means, but definitely too many men to represent The Village People. Obviously the second to last one is Batman cuz he's rockin' his grey suit and has bat ears. The fourth one from the left could represent the mob cuz he's wearing a hat, or maybe a taxi cab driver because he has a checkerboard pattern body. I definitely like the detail the person spent to create individual looks for these characters.
So I told myself not to buy unnecessary crap this weekend since a) it's unnecessary b) i really don't have room for any more stuff c) gas prices are killing my wallet d) it's unnecessary. But since I got paid this week, what the hell. Unlike other consumers in my age group who buy the latest tech gadgets, electronic thing-a-ma-bobs, high end couture, I tend to buy things that look like they were made in the 50s. Things with starburst prints, duo tone prints, flowery patterns... stuff like that. Anyway, my boss once told me that he thinks I should have been alive during the 50s. Heck, yea. If I had a Delorean, I'd send myself back to that decade and call myself Betty Crocker.
There's a store near the corner of Fletcher and Riverside called Coco's Variety and they sell a variety of stuff like used bikes, camping gear, random toys, and drinking water by the gallon. I was eyeing some Fire King and jadite dishes and was thinking to myself, "If I was a pyrex dish, I would be next to these guys." But sadly, it wasn't there...then lo and behold, sitting behind the counter was the awesomest pyrex bowl I've ever seen in mint condition. I knew it had to be mine. The promotional medallion cinderella bowl. It looks lime green in the picture, but it's actually a soft sea foam color with a gold pattern. I also bought a yellow goblet/pudding cup, good for putting coins in it. Also, who doesn't love oilcloths? I picked up a yard of the blue hibiscus pattern you see in the pic.
I've blogged briefly about these guys before and if you haven't checked sampled their tasty musical gems yet, you are indeed missing out. As noted before, LC(!) plays poppy, playful, and peppy music. The lyrics are 2 fast 2 furious and the guitars do that wall-of-sound-build-up-that-Broken-Social-Scene-does thing with some twee mixed in.
K and I arrived on the scene just as the first opening band was wrapping up their set. The first band Abe Vigoda (not the actor) played some spastic pop-punk rock. I don't write about music good so I'll have to use the age-old device of comparing bands to other bands in order to describe their sound. From the little I heard, they sounds like a less-gruff (i.e. lyrics are audible and no screaming) version of Cap N Jazz. This is definitely not a bad thing, and I'll sample their stuff fo sho.
Next up was Paranthetical Girls. The lead singer had some antics like walking into the crowd and banging a drumstick against random objects. Even before their set began, I had an inkling that I was going to enjoy it because among their instruments were xylophones, synths, and an omnichord. Homie also busted out the flute-keyboard instrument whose name I have yet to learn. Their music leaned toward the ambient side with slow build-ups. There were some quirky pop-songs that reminded me of older Of Montreal stuff.
The main event did not disappoint. LC played all their best jams and had tons of energy. The main dude busted out some spastic moves and almost broke his xylophone. A baby-mosh pit broke out and I busted out my pogo-jumping skillz. Concert season is upon us, and this was a great way to get the party started. Twee is making a xylophone/pianoflute/handclap comeback. My cardigan sweaters and I are ready.
Set list (which we were unable to physically procure) is as follows:
Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats Don't Tell Me To Do The Math(s) Death To Los Campesinos! This Is How You Spell "Hahaha, We Destroyed The Hopes And Dreams Of A Generation Of Faux-Romantics" Drop It Doe Eyes Tweexcore Knee Deep At ATP My Year in Lists Frontwards We Are All Accelerated Readers ... And We Exhale And Roll Our Eyes In Unison You! Me! Dancing! We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives <--- BEST SONG
Usually on my commute to work, I like to observe things as I drive by them. Things like people waiting at the bus stop and trying to figure out where they work and why they take the bus so early. Or high school kids with shaggy hair and tight pants who carry skateboards and wear their backpacks way too low. They'll get bad backs one day. There's also the occasional road kill, like dead cats with their carcass spilling out. It's funny how drivers intentionally swerve to avoid it, I mean, it's already dead. If you run it over again, it won't feel anything plus your tires are already dirty, so what's a little carcass? Anyway, I wouldn't recommend taking pictures while driving because that's just worst than talking on your cellphone and driving. I did it this morning because I love the occasional typo on buildings, signs, or moving trucks. I love murals that are on the side of liquor stores and have paintings of products that the store sells. Those are the best for spotting typos. Also Korean restaurants have funky grammar issues. One restaurant I passed by said, "Have nice day."
Anyway, the back of this truck says "If you can't see my mirros, I can't see you." I wonder how many drivers behind this van snickered at this typo. I know I did.
*For lack of a better title, I've added Le to make it sound faux French. Thanks, Steph.
Scion tC for the win. As the locals would say "No need bike rack".
The entry to the bike path off of Centinela Ave. The Era of Biking has begun!
Ballona Creek wildlife. Even though the "river" smells kind of funky, I guess the ducks like it.
I take a break at the next entry point to the bike path. This is near the Beverage Warehouse. The meaty thighs are starting to feel the burn at this point. Jeans were a bad decision.
I see some cool cats living the good life once I hit the Marina area.
Finally hit the beach. It looks beautiful at this time of day, but I doubt I'll go for a swim any time soon. Now it's time for the long trek back to my car.
