The Cookies Are Gone

Eurotrip 2009 Day 1

2009-05-26T18:33:00.000-07:00

Normally my business trips take me to exotic and exciting locales such as Garland, TX or Yuba City, CA but it just got taken to Super Saiyan Level 4 with a trip to Germany. All in all, it was an amazing experience (except for the whole work part) and there's a lot to write. But in the meantime, I'll post some pics:

Business class baby. I can't go back to coach now (unless they start serving hot fudge sundaes)

Avis Germany serves it up right. No PT Cruisers here

My first taste of German food. Delicious stuff but unfortunately, I got burnt out on schnitzel by the third day. Never got tired of the German beer though.

Kaiserslautern

Tried out a microbrew sampler from this bar in Kaiserslautern.
Pretty much what I expected from the brewmasters of Germany. I'm not a beer connoisseur or anything but all I know is that it was some of the best hefeweizen I've had and it'll get you drunk!

More to come...

Under My Umbrella-ella-ella

2009-04-05T11:29:00.000-07:00

Driving behind a bus on a rainy day to work last week, I spotted this ad on the backside of the bus. It's illegal to talk on cellphones and drive, but the law can't stop me from taking this pic! Pay close attention to the radio station's tag line.

I spy...

2009-01-26T20:14:00.000-08:00

Damn you Bubba Gump's in Long Beach. If those purdy pink pyrex bowls weren't bolted down, I would have added them to my collection!

Christmas pick-ups

2008-12-25T14:32:00.001-08:00

It's been awhile since I've posted in the blog and since I have some down time before I leave for Hawaii, I might as well share some of the presents I got this year.

Merry Christmas!

Clockwise from top left:

Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey (That's what she said)- Nice dessert book I got from my Secret Santa. Now I'll be getting diabetes with these recipes.

Changeling looking hat- I will try and channel Angelina Jolie when I wear this.

Hairspray- Zac Efron (and John Travolta dressed as a woman!).

Becoming Jane- James McAvoy.

Twilight- Jumping on the bandwagon...oh and Robert Pattinson.

Mini Cooper toy- I thought I was getting the real deal, but I got a "mini" version instead.

Camp Rock key chain- Joe Jonas (do you see a pattern here)?

This is Rome book by M. Sasek- Wonderfully illustrated children's book. I hope to collect the entire series one day!

A Very Jason Christmas- My friend did a splendid job of creating a stop motion music video of Wham's "Last Christmas." Check it out here

Ray-ban sunglasses- I make fun of people wearing them all the time..now I get to make fun of myself!

Thinking with type book- Good reference book about using type for anything and everything.

Bag of yarn- My friend decided to do everything DIY this year, but she ran out of time..so now I'll have to crochet and make the gnome myself!

Grub chronicle #3- My parents surprised me and bought one of my paintings. This one is of my adventure in fantasyland holding a churro.

Marc Jacobs Daisy- My favorite new scent! Yum!

and........

Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life (I saved the best for life)- This book weighs a ton, but is full of orgasmic illustrations of animals. Yes, orgasmic.

Weekend in review

2008-11-25T23:17:00.000-08:00

Friday:
After work I made the hike from to Sunset Junction in Silver Lake to see Gerard Way (he of My Chemical Romance fame) have a meet/greet/drink at Secret Headquarters. The store had some of his and Gabriel Ba's Umbrella Academy artwork on display. The new issue comes out tomorrow. Don't sleep. I talked to him for a minute and got an autograph.

Since I was on the east-siiide, I decided to hit up the Scoops/Orange 20 combo. O20 was closed but some Mint Oreo consoled me.

Saturday:
CRANK MOB

and cinco de mayo's nachos

Sunday:
Because I got paid on Friday, a good-ol' Amoeba run was in order.
Pickups:
- Girl Talk, Feed the Animals
- Cadence Weapon, Breaking Kayfabe and Afterparty Babies
- The Anniversary, Devil on our side
Since I was on the east-siiide, I decided to hit up the Scoops/Orange 20 combo.

A good weekend was had by all...THE END

Tis the Season!

2008-11-09T17:29:00.000-08:00

The holiday season has officially arrived! Whist at various shopping malls over the weekend, I noticed fake Christmas trees erected in center plazas, workers with "visitor" stickers at Target stocking the aisles with unwanted Planters peanuts gift sets and those blue Danish cookie tins (don't get me wrong, I love those cookies- especially the pretzel shaped ones covered with sugar). As I write this masterpiece, I am actually listening to a holiday station I found on itunes, cuz I can't wait for Kost 103.5 to start playing their non-stop holiday jams beginning Thanksgiving afternoon.

Nevermind that Christmas is next month and that silly Californians voted for prop 8, let's talk about art. Specifically, The Itty Bitty Art Show at Monkeyhouse. A couple friends and I submitted some oh so tiny art work which we hope YOU will buy! I would have taken more pics, but I spent most of my time outside cuz it was uber crowded. You can take a gander at the show until november 30th.

I did a set of 4 paintings titled "The Grub Chronicles."

My friend did 9 paintings of awesomely cute robots.

More pics of art done by friends!

Yay for Animals in Masquerade!

My friend and I made itty bitty limited edition buttons that we passed out during the show!

Here are some scary ass pics of the weather right now. This doesn't look like cheery holiday weather!

Overdue C.R.A.N.K. MOB post

2008-11-04T23:22:00.000-08:00

Crank mob (aka west side mobile partay) went down last month on the 18th. Here come da pics:

This is Sawtelle/La Grange. The above is Sawtelle/La Grange on Crank Mob. Any questions?

The boys are back in town (sans Chris). This crank mob was eventful for a number of reasons: Oro's birthday, Jerrald's new DIY paint job and rear wheel, and the debut of STORMWOLF (and the lightning bolt crashes)

From the starting point, we headed straight to the heart of Westwood. The damn incline on Westwood blvd. slowed me, and the wolf was lost from the pack. I caught up to them at some park across from the Fox Building.

From there, we ended up at the Ralph's on Sawtelle and National.

Even MJ made an appearance. JAMONAH!

Crank Mob Park in Culver City was the final stop.

The Windsor Bros. The blue one is named Hank McCoy.

No crank mob is complete without a trip to Cinco's

The breakfast of champions

New bike day

2008-10-19T20:31:00.000-07:00

Windsor Hour + Yellow Deep V's + MKS Sylvan Pedals + Champs grips + Salsa stem + white risers = Stormwolf
(I wanted the name Wolfsbane but then I realized that was the name of a crappy comic book character from X-Factor. Other potential names included Stormsbringer, Wolfsblood, Lightning Wolf, etc.)

Stormwolf was born on 10/16. However, the official debut of this badboy was last night's crank mob. Pictures and details to follow.

In other news Linux the Gentleman will be up for sale shortly.

Sunday Afternoon Post

2008-10-19T13:27:00.001-07:00

Yea, it's about time to play catch-up with my two and a half loyal blog readers and fill you in with exciting stuff that's been happening over the month of October! (Really, nothing too exciting). I meant to blog about my pick ups a while back, but have just been lagging in this weird October heat which just drains my energy from basically doing anything productive (except maybe cursing at the sun and eating ice cream).

I was in F-Town a couple weekends ago and visited my two favorite stores there- Otto and Out of Vogue (which I blogged about in this post). Anyway, from Otto, I picked up a book about Neutra. The pic of him on the back cover is kinda scary, but it's a good read about a lot of the architectural greatness that he created around the Silver Lake area. I also picked up this awesome Tiki Sea World mug.

I thought it was an authentic Fire King mug cuz I looked at the branding underneath and saw an "F." Sweet, says I...but when I got home and did my research it actually turned out to be "Federal" instead of Fire King. Cool mug which will be added to my growing collection of Pyrex bowls. Speaking of Tiki culture, if you're in the Glendizzle area, be sure to check out Forest Lawn's exhibit, "In Search of Tiki," which features tons of Tiki artifacts from the Pacific Islands as well as Tiki artist Shag and a few collections from Marc and Alice Davis (awesome sketches from Adventureland and the Tiki Room).

Mmmk, I just ate left over Thai food and now I'm food coma-ing.

So here's a list of random pick ups for this month (cuz the combination of greasy thai food and the warm sun in my room is making me groggy).

-Posters for the People: The Art of the WPA > awesome hard cover book featuring eye-catching posters
-Krazy Kids vintage food graphics > Nice compilation of food product logos and packaging from the 50s-70s
-Orla Kiely bag (I couldn't resist, it was on sale)
-The Office quote pens from Target's $1 section "The Schrutes produce very thirsty babies"

I don't feel the Whoo hoo!

2008-09-26T20:33:00.000-07:00

I don't really pay attention to the news unless it's celeb gossip, random shenanigans in Ohio, or pigs with lipstick, but I was shocked to hear yesterday that my bank, Washington Mutual, went belly up and was bought by one of the nation's strongest banks- JPMorgan Chase. I got a notice from the bank with a headline that read,

"Exciting news for our customers! We're proud to announce that WaMu has become part of one of the nation's strongest banks...blah blah blah...backed by the strength and security of JPMorgan Chase."

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Did I miss something here? Should I be celebrating that my bank was apparently struggling with these mortgage woes and eventually collapsed cuz it couldn't handle the market's instability? Far from being excited, I went to the WaMu site this morning and saw this image sans thought bubble:

This picture basically summarizes what WaMu did to its customers. Gotcha!
*Picture found from The Consumerist

*Update* I just checked the WaMu site, and this is what's up now:

Yes. Blank. Empty. Hopefully my bank account isnt.

TCAG Fall Concert Series part 1: Beck (Hollywood Bowl)

2008-09-21T23:43:00.000-07:00

Bust out those cardigans and American Apparel shirts kids 'cuz it'sa concert season and we're starting it off with a bang. Beck played the bowl of bowls along with MGMT and Spoon.

Stunning views aside, the Hollywood Bowl is also known for another fact: BYOB (and F). Along with the usual Porto's pickups (Potato balls, ham croquettes, and coconut macaroons) we also kept it local and picked up some musubis from L&L. For dranks, we hit up Trader Joe's. On the clerk's suggestion, I picked up some 3 Horses tallboys. Musubis, beer, and Beck: the winning combination.

When MGMT started up, I decided their freaky groovy music would best be appreciated whilst slightly intoxicated. I cracked open one of the cans and anticipated some fancy beery goodness (it's Trader Joe's right?) I wish I had four hands so I could give them brewkies four thumbs down.

But I'm a trooper and I put down four of those badboys by the end of the night (resulting in multiple trips to the men's room). In any case, MGMT's set was pretty short but they played their popular songs and got people moving in their seats.

Spoon was next and absolutely killed it. They played the jams and ended their set with one of my favorite songs off their latest album, Black Like Me.

Beck took the stage thereafter and kicked off the set with Loser. Now I'm not the greatest of dancers, but hearing a 90s classic and having 3.5 tallboys in your system works wonders: I was on my feet before you could say "In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey". Beck followed that up with more of his faster songs. In the middle of his set, Beck was joined by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra Strings (which was conducted by his father David Campbell). He ended the set with "Chemtrails". The encore included "Where it's at" and the crowd went wild. Most I've danced in my life.

Set list:

Loser / Girl / Nausea / Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat (Dylan cover) / Guero / Nicotine & Gravy / Mixed Bizness / Devils Haircut / Timebomb / Soul of a Man / Gamma Ray / Hell Yes / Black Tambourine / Modern Guilt / Paper Tiger / Think I’m in Love / Missing /
Lonesome Tears / Replica / Round the Bend / Chemtrails

Encore:

Where It’s At / E-Pro

Sunset Junction, What's Your Function

2008-08-24T21:37:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, the bf and I checked out Sunset Junction. I'm not really in the mood to write a detailed description of the hipster awesomeness that I saw or the numerous times I got asked if I'm tested for STDs and Hepatitis. Yea, I'm not sure if I would go up to a stranger and say, "Hey! Have you been tested! I think you should! It only takes 5 minutes...here's a sticker!" For me, that's a personal question, I don't care if the stranger himself has been tested, I really don't wanna know what/who/how he's done the dirty deed. I was just there to grab some free shit, check out the bands, and enjoy the smells of street meat. Anyway, check out my photos of the festival...there's only three...so enjoy.

I love these tall jugs with colorful fruit drinks. They just add so much color to an otherwise boring white booth.

This is the band Bodies of Water. Me thinks they sound just like Arcade Fire.

Yes, I know what you're thinking. The Video Market has adult movie rentals?!?! (That's a dude to the left of the chick. I think he rocks his outfit better than Ms. Pochahontas boots).

Life size Guido!

2008-08-18T20:06:00.000-07:00

If I had a favorite car character from the Pixar movie Cars, it would have to be Guido- the forklift whose dream was to participate in a pit stop for a real race car. Anyway, while driving around Downtown showing my relatives around, we stopped next to such a car. What a cute car too! The hipster dude driving looked comical because who else would drive such a tiny cramped car for the sake of being cool? Yea yea, Steve Urkel drove a small car too, but this guy was no Stefan Urquelle. Give me my cool juice!

Guido from Cars

Guido in Downtown

Historic Filipinotown Festival

2008-08-02T20:55:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know where Historic Filipinotown is, it's located on the Temple street corridor parallel to the Hollywood Freeway beginning at Glendale and ending around Hoover.

Today's festival started with a 5k run/walk in the morning and continued with music and dances performed by local dance troupes. There were also several narrated bus tours hosted by the Filipino American Library. During the tour, the guide explored the significance of several historical sites and people that shaped the neighborhood and answers the question, "What is historic about Historic Filipinotown?".

Scroll down for some pics of the festivities and the tour!

These are the banners that hang on the street lamps around Historic Filipinotown.

Jolibee was one of the primary food sponsors during the event. I opted out not to eat the Chicken Joy today, but it did look delish.

There was also a Goldilock's booth selling biscotti and ginseng tea. I wanted pastries and mocha rolls, dammit.

Randomly, John McCain was there too.

I have no clue who these ladies are but they were kind enough to let me take a picture of them.

On the bus tour, we stopped at Remy's Gallery where they currently have a traveling Smithsonian Institution exhibit called "Singgalot: The Ties That Bind (Filipinos in America, from Colonial Subjects to Citizens)." I learned quite a lot about the numerous waves of Filipino immigrants and that there are more Filipinos living in Illinois than in Seattle!

The only Filipino monument in America dedicated to the Filipino Veterans who fought in WWII. The monument is made of reflective stone because it's supposed to represent our reflection and how we're all part of the past. (Or something like that.)

There were other interesting highlights of the trip such as the guys behind us saying, "Dude, check this out!" or "Dude, we can have some poker night fundraiser!" or "Dude, I say dude too much!" We also had some fiasco with the Rampart po-po before our bus took off for the tour, but that's another story. Anyway, I highly suggest going on the tour because it's uber educational and offers a glimpse about the Filipinos who originally settled in the area and eventually had to relocate to other areas such as Carson and Cerritos.

Comic con 2008 PICKUPS

2008-07-31T23:48:00.000-07:00

One can't go to comic con without snagging some jawesome freebies and some not-so-freebies.

Here's my loot for 2008:

The initial madness of all my bags dumped out on the bed.

The absolute best free swag from the con is the Red Dress Cylon Six minimate From the Sci-Fi booth. Even though I'm more of a Kubrick fan, I can't hate on a free Battlestar minimate. Also, Eureka mints on the right.

Sci-fi also had the coolest bag of the show with their take on the famous Bloomingdale's bag

Bionic bionic six..oo wee ooh. The premise of this 80s cartoon was the Six-Million Dollar man and the Bionic Woman have a multi-cultural family with super powers (Asian karate kid, Caucasian Jock kid, African-American nerd kid, Valley girl with walkman, and a robot gorilla thrown in for good measure). As hokey as it sounds, the cartoon was pretty rad and had better than usual animation for an American show. Guy at the booth gave me a good deal on these.

Seeing as how my old school Transformers toys are rotting away in a landfill somewhere, the Transformers Encore line is the closest I'll get to the real deal. Of the ones available at the booth, Starscream was the best. This will go well with my Masterpiece Starscream. I was *this* close to buying the Soundwave mp3 player but realized I don't need anymore soundwaves or mp3 players.

We also managed to pick up some actual graphic novels this time around. These are from Yoshihiro Tatsumi, who is credited for starting the alternative comics movement in Japan in the 1950s. They are being translated now by Drawn and Quarterly.

Got this for my dad and bro who watch the show. I gotta get on that.

Random stuff:

Comic-con 2008

2008-07-28T00:35:00.000-07:00

Once again, we made the trek all the way down to San Diego (which of course in German means a "Whale's Vagina") for the sweetest (non-erotic) convention, Comic-con. We saw a lot of things, smelled a bunch of rankness, and grabbed a crapload free stuff. Here are da pics:

Starscream from the new Animated Transformers series. I think it was a girl in that costume...

Spider-man + helicopter = MIND BLOWN

Special Edition Optimus Prime. This ish is coming out in December and it will be mine, oh yes it will be mine.

The stormtroopers were out in full effect.

Keeping up the tradition, we took a break and ate some grub at Dick's.

Cardboard Optimus is back!

The WB booth was always crowded for some reason. It also smelled like cheese and eggs (not in a good way) around that booth.

Megaman and Naruto, finally together. I told that kid to do that Rasengan, but that fool didn't know what I was talking about...weak

Next time: Free swag and pick ups!

In the Summer Time, When the Weather is Hot

2008-07-03T19:43:00.000-07:00

Summer is officially here. The kids are on break. The freeways are less crowded in the morning. People will consume at least 2 pounds of hot dogs and hamburgers this weekend. Hollywood Bowl concerts are in full effect. Comic-con is soon approaching. And this, dear readers, is how I greet the season with open arms (er, an open mouth, perhaps):

A strawberry donut from the Donut Man.
You're missing out on life if you haven't had one.

Donut Man
915 E Route 66
Glendora, CA 91740

The Maiden Voyage of Linux (AKA The Gentleman)

2008-06-22T23:25:00.001-07:00

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*

DVD bandit

2008-06-22T20:33:00.000-07:00

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.

Random things that make my day

2008-06-15T17:39:00.001-07:00

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.

Weekend pick-ups

2008-06-09T21:45:00.000-07:00

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.

Summer Concert Series Part 1: Los Campesinos

2008-06-08T22:29:00.000-07:00

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

Encore:
Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks

Le Typo

2008-06-03T21:29:00.000-07:00

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.

Hey, ginger balls!

2008-05-31T14:17:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow night at the Orpheum theater in downtown, Flight of the Conchords will be playing their second show (the first one, which was Friday night, sold out in mere seconds..damn you ticketmaster). Anyway, I'll be there as the Asian version of Mel. I like pie.

Enjoy the vidja.

Youtube Test Round 1

2008-05-26T04:01:00.000-07:00

Being the (self-proclaimed) Master of pop culture, I decided to put youtube to the test.
I dug through my mind grapes and came up with some obscure pop culture moments from back in my day to see if youtube gots the goods.

Cartoon: Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors
Finding the the GI Joe or Transformers intro would be too easy. I vaguely remember this show and even had to google to find the exact title (the query was "plant vehicle cartoon 80s")

Honoarable mention: Turbo Teen

Movie: Gymkata
I've told everyone about this movie where a gymnast fights ninjas
in some random village, but no one seemed to believe me.
(That is until I provided physical proof. Thanks amoeba)
Twenty dollars might have been too much to spend on the DVD now that
I think about it.

Honorable mention: American Ninja

TV: My Secret Identity
One of many "I'm a kid and have super power" TV shows
from the 80s, My Secret Identity was one of my favorites.
It starred pre-Sliders Jerry o'connell as a kid who
has superspeed, invunerability, and levitation powers.

Honorable mention:
Kids Inc.

Music: Another Bad Creation
This video is hilariously bad with references
to Nintendo and eating cereal.

Honorable mention:
Bobby Brown

Guess youtube wins this round...

Books fall open, you fall in

2008-04-30T22:09:00.000-07:00

I once had a bookmark with a a picture of a turtle and a rabbit on it that read, "Books hard or soft, I love them all." As cheesy as that sounds, I love books and although I missed the Festival of Books last week at UCLA, I thought I'd share some of my favorite illustrated books that I currently own:

I Can Fly - illustrated by Mary Blair

This is a classic Little Golden Book that captures the spirit of a little girl's imagination and Blair's exuberant and bright illustrations. For those of you not familiar with Mary Blair (shame on you), she was a very important artist and Disney animator and also designed Disneyland's It's a Small World. For less than three bucks, you can own some of Blair's vibrant artwork.

The Ancient Book of Myth and War

*i'm too lazy to rotate this picture*

Nate Wragg. As one of the contributing authors of this book, he is also one of the most talented illustrators from the Pixar family (and one reason why I bought this book). He created a lot of concept sketches for Ratatouille and even illustrated a children's book called Too Many Cooks. I like this book because a lot of the artists that contributed their drawings and paintings about their favorite mythological creatures share some insight that went into creating the piece.

Limited Edition: Art and Design of GAMA-GO

Over 300 pages of the distinct style of GAMA-GO illustration, this book is worthy of being part of any design library. Whether you're a fan of DeathBot or The Yeti(I personally like Dirty Bird), Tim Biskup and gang started GAMA-GO cuz they were bored with their day jobs and wanted to turn their basement hobby into something more. This book is filled with rare images and early designs and provides endless inspiration for creating characters!

*most of these pictures were borrowed from other sites, the only picture that's mine is the one that's not rotated :P

**title of the post came from another bookmark. Obviously, I collected corny bookmarks as a kid, too.

Hanging out with the Fullertonians

2008-04-20T14:16:00.001-07:00

Before hitting up DCA's Food and Wine Festival, I decided to hang out with my favorite Fullertonian and check out the SoCo (South of Commonwealth) scene. According to Wikipedia, some notable Fullertonians include: Leo Fender, Social D lead singer Mike Ness, martial artist/actor Steven Seagal, and all around supasta Gwen Stefani.

I won't go into too much detail about the area, but it's definitely worth checking out. There are tons of antique stores, coffee shops, gelato stores, and some vintage stores (including Buffalo Exchange). One store that I particularly fell in love with is Otto. This shop specializes in unique furniture, decorative arts, and awesome artist merchandise from Shag to Gamma Go and even some cool Eames stuff! I think it's safe to say that I almost shat in my pants cuz this store carries all the cool artist stuff that I like.

So I wasn't planning on spending some money, but when there are antique stores that means there's also bountiful pyrex waiting to be bought. One antique store carried decent quality pyrex with minor scratches and some jadite. I managed to pick up a yellow casserole dish with a brown snowflake pattern (plus it was on sale! pyrex is NEVER on sale...except at goodwill). Anyway, we also hit up the local Goodwill. I particularly like their brick-a-brack section because everything is organized by color (which makes it easy for me to find pyrex). I found a couple nesting bowls but resisted the temptation of buying whole sets; rather, I just bought pieces I thought would complement my growing collection. So I found a woodlawn brown mid size bowl and a spring blossom 2 casserole dish.

Pyrex bandit strikes again!

Are You Ready for May 1st?

2008-04-18T19:07:00.001-07:00

On my way to work this morning, I drove behind an MTA bus. Usually, I will swerve in and out of traffic like the crazy Asian driver that I am to avoid driving behind these monstrous beasts that move at snail pace. But not today. The picture of one of the hunk-iest men alive happened to be placed on the rear of the orange beast that I followed down Virgil. I'm not talking about LA commercial hunks like Crazy Gideon or Larry H. Parker, this guy is a bona-fide piece of meat in so many ways.

Ira Glass.

For ya'll that don't know who this hunk of a hunk is, he hosts the radio program This American Life on NPR and similarly does the show on Showtime. There is something quirky and nasally about his voice that makes his radio show easy to listen to while I sit in traffic during my commutes. I'll stop drooling now.

Anyway This American Life-Live! will be shown May 1st at selected movie theaters across the country, get yours soon before they run out!

He's looking at me!

Oh what a knight (Or Don't bet on black and white)

2008-03-29T01:57:00.000-07:00

The king of all dinner shows, Medival Times did not disappoint. Yes, I know the knights aren't really fighting, and I'm fully aware PEPSI did not exist in the middle ages. Nevertheless, K and I had always wanted to check it out. Before going in, I knew that each group is assigned a certain knight to champion. As they handed over the cardboard black and white crown, I had a sinking feeling that our knight would not reign victorious. Black and White is just not a winning color scheme. We then took our picture with the princess of the castle and headed to the holding area before the show started. You all know I likes to keeps things real so I hit up the bar for a ceramic stein full of frothy ale. Alas, the spirits did my make loose my tongue: As they were calling the groups (by color) to enter the arena, I let the blue group have it. Taking a cue from Hans Moleman I yelled "Boooo-lue! Booooo-lue!" Shortly after being seated, we were introduced to our wench for the evening. No joke, she referred to herself as a wench. All restaurants should adopt this idea: "Wench! Gather me more mcnuggets of the chicken haste posthaste!" The food was nothing special. There was soup, bread, chicken, and a single BBQ rib. The storyline is no Game of Thrones, but it was better than I expected. Not to spoil too much for you, but the Green Knight is a bastard. After introducing the knights, there were some jousting feats and equestrian tricks. Finally, the moment we were waiting for was upon us. The knights would in engage in (non) deadly battle. Unfortunately for the Black and White knight, he
was called out by Green right off the bat. Green made short work of him. The rest of the colors fought with various weapons until the final showdown was between the Green and Red knight. As always good triumphs over evil and the kingdom is happy once again (except the king is now short 6 knights). All in all despite the watering down of a whole chunk of history, it was an enjoyable evening and it left K and I with ideas of starting a
ninja show called Samurai Times. It will feature Japanese food, sake, jump kicking, katana, lasers, bears, lightning bolts, and the song "Kung Fu fighting". Patent pending, son.

I like stuuuff...St Patty's Day edition

2008-03-16T19:56:00.001-07:00

Since this week's blog theme seems to be "stuff," I gathered whatever green item I could find in my room in honor of St. Patrick's Day. For every green thing I found, I pretended I was Dorothy from "Return to Oz," and held my hands over it while saying, "OZ" - hoping that it would magically transform into Tik-Tok or Jack Pumpkinhead. Seriously, I didn't do that.

Anyway, clockwise from top to bottom:

My Shag book-
One of the most awesome-est illustrators around, I saw him give a talk at Comic-Con once and was literally sitting with my mouth wide open. It's like seeing Abraham Lincoln give his Gettysburg address and feeling all tingly cuz you know he will change your life somehow. If you like monkeys with fezes, this book's for you.

Travel Journal-
Got this as a Christmas present from a way cool friend. I hope to fill this book up one day with adventures of reindeer romps in the North Pole and hanging out with Bret and Jemaine in New Zealand.

Bird Button-
Not sure who designed this, but it's super cute. Got it from the Swerve festival back in September.

Bath & Body Work's "Just for Kids Awesome Apple Anti-Bacterial
Instant Hand Foam"-
I'm kinda sad that they discontinued their line of kids' anti-bacterial lotions and hand soaps. They smell really fruity and sweet, like candy! The banana scented stuff had a cute name of "Bananarama Ding Dong." Anyway, I use this ish all the time when I touch germy stuff. Works wonders and also moisturizes your skin!

Green Ballpoint Pen--
Why stick to boring black or blue ink when you can use green?

Aveeno Clear Complexion Foaming Cleaner-
I use this every night and I'm a sucker for anything that foams after you pump it.

Green Fiskars scissor-
I've had this since high school and it's my trusty pair that's always by my desk.

Skeleton Key Caps-
Got these from Urban Outfitters cuz they were way too cute (supposedly the glow in the dark, but maybe I need to hide them in my closet first...yuk-yuk).

Green Face Towel-
I love the doily pattern on this towel, not to mention the bright green! Scored this from the sale section at Anthropologie awhile back.

OSH Flashlight-
Ok, ok, this flashlight isn't really green (maybe teal?), anyway the batteries are dead in this thing and if there's a major earthquake in the future, I'm screwed!

GSF (Gnome Sorcery Federation) shirt-
I actually belong to this federation. We meet once a year and discuss the positive qualities of the Travelocity gnome and what gnome enthusiasts can do so the rest of society won't think that all gnomes are evil like the ones in R.L. Stein's Goosebumps.

Lysol Disinfecting Wipes-
They do a good job of cleaning up dust particles and ketchup blobs on tables. This ish smells good too!

Do you like stuuuff?

2008-03-16T00:15:00.000-07:00

Inspired by good magazine's monthly feature of people and their things, I decided to take a stab at it with the stuff I use on a daily basis:

Sperry boat shoe
--
This slip-on buys me a few minutes getting ready in the morning.

Logitech Harmony 520
--
Controls EVERYTHING with an IR port, even ceiling fans.

Grado SR-60
--
The best bang for your headphone buck (under $100 that is)

ipod
--
Back in the day, I thought 8GB was huge. Now, I'm rocking 160 and can't wait to fill it up.

Soundwave
--
Cool modulated voice. Minature minions. Transforms into a boombox.
Yep, Soundwave is the best Deception, hands down.

Mechanical pencils
--
Not as clumsy or random as a ballpoint, an elegant writing instrument for a more civilized age.
The silver one is my trusty dr. grip while the wooden one is from moma in san francisco.

buddha box
--
If I ever need background noise, ambient is the way to go.

Moleskin
--
In an effort to organize my hectic life, everything goes into this book,
Any important detail of the day ranging from funny quotes ("A little thing I like to call meatloaf") to workout stats (15 min. on Wednesday)

xbox control
--
Used to relieve stress (and smacktalk 12 year-olds)

My Weakness

2008-03-09T18:14:00.001-07:00

Today is the second Sunday of the month, which means it's the day I turn into a crazy mad woman trying to hunt down rare pyrex pieces at the Pasadena Rose Bowl flea market. When I'm on a mission, people better get outta my way. I'm talking about the stylish Japanese fashionistas toting body bags to carry all their vintage shirts and cowboy boots and Ray-Ban Wayfarer-wearing Pete Doherty's...don't mess with a woman's pyrex! Some stalls selling pyrex really know how precious their goods are and jack up the prices of popular patterns. I like going to vendors who sell stuff out of their truck and don't know they're selling pyrex-to them it's just grandma's casserole dish. One such vendor was selling a set of five pyrex mixing bowls for 20 bucks. I had to refrain myself from buying such a steal because I'm running out of room to store these babies. One day, when I have a huge selection of pyrex and fire king, I will set up a stall so people can just look and not buy. Ha!

So I ended up buying a turquoise chip bowl with a hot air balloon motif and another small bowl with the friendship bird design (the guy I bought it from actually gave me a good bargain and said that the dust comes free!) The other items I picked up are part of the pyrex refrigerator set series, one tan speckled one sans lid and a bright canary yellow one.

hooray for pyrex!

Just in case you're curious about the different pyrex patterns, check it out here at pyrex love

I thought I'd throw in some extra pictures from my weekend:

Luchador masks at Olvera Street. I really wanted to buy the Hello Kitty one.

Swizzle sticks/cocktail stirrers from one of the vintage stalls

Rocking On Your Dime

2008-03-01T20:50:00.000-08:00

The highlight of my day was checking out the current exhibit at Redcat (at the Walt Disney Concert Hall) cuz it was....GEOFF MCFETRIDGE (actually it's Ed Fella and Geoff McFetridge, but the emphasis is on the latter). Ok, so the pre-highlight was actually finding FREE parking in downtown. We were aimlessly driving around one small street and contemplated about paying the 8 buck scam in one of those parking lots, but lo and behold a van pulled out if its spot and the gods of parking graced us with the glorious spot not too far from the hall.

Anyway, I've never been to the Concert Hall, but it's a nice touristy L.A. spot to check out right across from MOCA and a couple of blocks away from Little Tokyo and the rest of downtown.

So if you don't know Mr. McFetridge, you've prolly seen his work- Rooney logo, the opening title sequence for Virgin Suicides,"Bohemian Modern" cover design, zwan freebie stickers, motion graphic pieces for HP, shirts and such at Giant Robot. His artwork is simple and flat and often iconic. This exhibit explores his relationship with graphic design and how it's interpreted in visual culture and seen in the commercial world. You should definitely check it out (plus it's free)

Exhibit runs till April 6th.

*tilt head sideways to enjoy picture*

Geoff also has a line of visually stunning wallpaper designs worth checking out at Pottokprints
Pottokprints

Oh Yeah Burritos Time

2008-02-23T02:42:00.000-08:00

Gotta crunch it cause it's good

Always on the prowl for new foods to sample, K and I hit San Francisco like Mr. and Ms. Pacman.
We chomped our way through Taylor's Automatic Refresher and Hang Ah Tea Room. To complete the trifecta of tastebud (and artery clogging) perfection, we headed to Mission Street to try out their famous burritos. Apparently, the San Francisco burrito is the model on which Chipotle is based. Now that I think about it, this SF burrito differs from those you can score from the taco shacks in L.A. Hell, I consider anything wrapped in a tortilla to be a burrito. Inaccurate burrito terminology notwithstanding, I knows good eats when I munches it, and El Farolito was jawesome. The war is canceled. We can all go home. Sorry Chipotle, Big Burrito Company, Taco Bell Grilled Stuffed, and Del Taco Macho Combo. The joint is definitely a hole in the wall. Yet, the line was almost out the door. K wanted carne asada while I opted for shredded chicken. While I'm not a burrito expert by any means, I'm declaring El Farolito's burrito the best I've ever tasted. Not only that, but their salsa dethrones my current fave, Pancho's. Combine this salsa with the chips from Tito's and baby you got a stew going . These foil-encased badboys were so full of mass it was as if you could launch them from the Red October.

Check out this cross-section:

Buriiiitos...*ting*

Stuff my face weekend: Palms/Venice edition Part II

2008-02-10T16:50:00.001-08:00

I had some weird craving for chicken teriyaki, so we hit up mitsuwa market for some cheap fill my tummy with japanese food goodness. This place never lets me down when I'm in the mood for some ramen, chicken, or curry croquettes!

delicious chicken teriyaki plate with miso soup, pickles, and tofu.

Just across the street is a Robinson Beautilities..beautilities is such a strange word for cosmetics and beauty supplies. Anyway, this costume store is jam packed with a variety of costumes ranging from psuedo/scary Mickey Mouse heads/chicken costumes and Hawaiian muu-muus and a wide assortment of odds and ends (gags like fake poo smeared on a diaper).

Driving down Venice, we discovered the Venice High School swap meet (I wonder if their mascot is a VHS tape...jk). This takes place every second of the month and like other flea markets, you can find antiques, collectibles, vintage tees, but mostly used crappy junk. I did, however, find a merchant who was selling...PYREX. A little pricey for her pieces, I went and splurged on a small butter container and a coffee cup.

My pick ups.

There's also a near-by farmer's market in the Mar Vista area. Oranges, tangerines, and grapefruits are in season, so I had a fair share of samples from all the vendors. We decided to try the empanadas from the empanada stand. They were so-so, considering that they're 2 for 5 bucks (I thought they'd be huge, but they were actually small). We also picked up some hot chicken sausage from this bbq place. Quite spicy, but a yummy brunch I must say.

As seen on TV 02/03/08

2008-02-05T08:32:00.000-08:00

AKA Jawesome videos from the interwebs

Feist - I feel it all
--

Everytime someone mentions that gotdanged ipod commerical I also mention the fact that Feist is old news and I was bumping Let It Die when the first generation ipod video just came out. Now she's back with another music video, and I'm back telling all yalls I was listening to this song last year. If you're nice, I'll tell you what you will be seeing in hoverboard commercials in the year 2015.

News Blooper
--

Never mind the promise of instant communication or information retrieval, the greatest gift the internet has bestowed upon us is streaming video of reporters stifling laughter on live television. The 0:24 mark is especially funny because that's when he's about to lose it.

Les Savy Fav on Conan
--

These are one of those bands I've heard of but never actually gotten around hearing. However, a couple months ago "Patty Lee" popped up on the local college station, and I've been rocking out ever since. That guitar line is killin it.

...But I Guess Eagle Rock Got Skipped*

2008-02-02T22:23:00.000-08:00

Our field trip in Eagle Rock began as usual...looking for a place to eat lunch. We wanted to go to Casa Bianca, but sadly they're not open for lunch. Driving along Colorado, we spotted Taco Spot (haha. spotted..taco spot...get it?) and decide that Mexican food will suffice our taste buds for today. I suppose the menu offers a healthy alternative to other Mexican restaurants I've ate at (they're vegetarian friendly and also offer wheat tortillas). I just ordered their taco plate while M ordered the shrimp tacos; both plates come with rice and beans and are decorated with a couple chips. I forgot to try their carne asada fries, but I guess I'll be coming here instead of San Diego to try it out. One thing I liked about the place, beside the food, is the hip design of their logo. Props for that, but negative points for playing the Phantom of the Opera movie soundtrack...it sorta ruined my festive taco mood.

A hop, a skip and one long jump away...we head over to the Forest Lawn Glendale museum to check out the Posters of the WPA exhibit. It's kind of a weird place to have an exhibit at a mortuary, but it's a free event that's worth checking out. In addition to war propaganda posters, there's definitely a cool mixture of posters done by many people who participated in the WPA and never seen art in museums, let alone studied art in school. Personally, I really enjoyed this exhibit because I love the flat avant-garde look created in these posters that are sorta resurfacing in concert posters and movie title credits.

Down where Colorado street hits hill...not really, but a friend of mine told me about this awesome soda pop shop called Galco's Soda Pop Stop. Located in Highland Park, this seriously is one store to check out. The whole store is loaded with drinks...compared to BevMo, this store is awesome. Endless brands of root beer, cream sodas, ginger ales, and even old timey Dr. Pepper in bottles! They also have a wide selection of beer, lagers, what have you. The area where there usually should be vegetables actually has an endless assortment of candy. The checkout stand looks like it's been there since the 50s and even the store itself was playing doo wop music...must check out if you haven't already!

I will never skip a rock again...and suddenly we end up at the Eagle Rock Fresh & Easy (that's what she said). My God, I love this store! Why can't there be a closer one to me. :( First of all, I like their logo and product design. Yes, I'm the type of person who will buy a product based on the packaging. Anyway, the store reminded me of a cross between Trader Joe's/Wholefoods minus the loud hawaiian shirts and crowded aisles. The products are cheaper than other supermarkets, but they also don't have a wide selection of stuff. Whatevs, I like the fact that you can check out and bag your own groceries and I left with a box of risotto!

*I haaaaad to use Ozma's song "Rocks" b/c it had a shout out to Eagle Rock. :P

This week in links

2008-01-19T01:50:00.000-08:00

Here are the things that have been keeping me glued to my monitor and laughing heartily this week:

Patience's Telling Show
If you're familiar with the Grates, you know the lead singer is awesomely spastic and puts on a good show. Now imagine her describing the Rush Hour 3 in fine detail and you'll have the best podcast I've heard EVER.

Los Campesinos!
I'm probably behind on the times in my music news, but I've been trying to play catch up this week. One of the band's I came across is Los Campesinos! Consider them a twee version of Broken Social Scene with fanciful lyrics. Nice and poppy especially in the morning.

Regular Everyday Normal Guy
I do make a decent spaghetti sauce so I can relate.

Jim Davis Tribute
Fatal Farm comes with the quickness yet again. A mocking tribute to the greatness that is Garfield, Lasagna Cat re-enacts classic strips which are then followed by a musical tribute. Songs range from "A whole new world" to the Jurassic Park theme. This is a video series after my own heart. If you thought the MASH theme song was creepy on its own check this out.

Hackintosh
Ah, if I had the time I would try to mod my computer to install Leopard...

Coding Horror
Jeff Atwood has some of the best articles on computer science. This one about fonts is especially great because typography is cool.

Fee Fi Pho Yum*

2008-01-08T20:58:00.000-08:00

Since tickets for the Dali exhibit at LACMA were all sold out this weekend, M and I couldn't decide what to do. Watch a movie? Go bowling? Definitely wasn't in the mood for shopping, but we knew we wanted something tasty to eat to compensate for waking up early and going to LACMA only to go find a big honking xeroxed sign on a small podium saying "DALI SOLD OUT."

M suggested Mimi's Cafe as the place to go, but that's always our default pit stop if we can't think of a place we haven't tried. I was down to try some pizza joint in Eagle Rock, but our tummies were growling as we made our way through Atwater Village. Since I usually drive by the area on my way from work, I knew we had to try this vietnamese restaurant- Indochine Cafe. The service at the restaurant was fast and friendly. We didn't need to ask for silverware or for water, the waiter promptly sat us down (maybe cuz we were the first customers of the day and were really hungry?). Anyway, I ordered the cold noodles with chicken and the portions are huge! I couldn't even finish my bowl but I savored every bite until I told myself, "No more! (cuz I wanted to check out Toni's Rolling Pin Bakery next door..hehee)

Anyway, this place is good to grab a quick bite and there's plenty of street parking around the neighborhood. The prices are reasonable and I give it three egg rolls for awesome service (the place has cool decor, too).

*ok, I didn't order Pho, but I wanted a cheesy title. :P

Favorite places to stuff our faces

2007-12-26T20:22:00.000-08:00

Since everyone is doin' their favorite top such and such list of 2007, I decided to do a top list of restaurants/trucks/pit stops that we enjoyed eating at, and that you, our dedicated and loyal readers, should try too.

Happy eating!

(In no particular order):

Scoops

Forget the Pinkberries, Red Mangos, Crapberries out there, this place serves the awesomest selection of frozen yogurt everyone should try.

712 N Heliotrope Dr
Los Angeles, CA 90029
__________________________________________

Monte Carlo Deli & Pinocchio's Restaurant

A hidden gem in Burbank, this place has been around for over 40 years, but I recently discovered the glory of their giant meatball subs that would put Subway's to shame. It's also worth a visit to check out cool ambiance.

3103 W Magnolia Blvd
Burbank, CA 91505
__________________________________________

Chabuya Tokyo Noodle Bar

The saltiest and most satisfying and tasty pork broth on Sawtelle. I usually get their Classic and leave happy! A little pricey compared to the other ramen joints, but worth it.

2002 Sawtelle Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025

__________________________________________

The Colony Cafe

Must get the garlic fries! They also have yummy desserts and ice cream.

10937 W Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064

__________________________________________

The Original Rinaldis

The Sandwiches are awesome...Godfather is the one to get, also the Russell combo makes for a sweet lunch.

323 Main St
El Segundo, CA 90245

__________________________________________

Mao's Kitchen

The best chinese food outside of communist china. A shout of of favorite dishes: string bean chicken, yam and beef, and the green onion pancakes. Yum.

1512 Pacific Ave
Venice, CA 90291

__________________________________________

Pie 'n Burger

Good pie and burgers. They make their own soda, too!

913 E California Blvd
Pasadena, CA 91106

__________________________________________

Chano's Drive-In

Best hole-in-the-wall mexican food by SC. Their chili fries are the bomb. Everything on the menu is cheap!

3000 S Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA 90007

Boner Jams '07

2007-12-26T13:43:00.000-08:00

2007 was a good year for music (even though I say that every year was a good year for music)
In no particular order, here are the albums and tracks I was jamming to this past year:

Beirut - Flying Cup Club
Feist - The Reminder
Dri - Smoke Rings
New Pornographers - Challengers
The Pipettes - We are the Pipettes
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

Yeah yeah yeah I know these selections are the usual end of the year mumbo jumbo on a bunch of other sites, but I haven't had time to explore the music blogosphere and search for new music.
My real musical picks from the past year are coming soon...

The Hipster Black Friday

2007-12-09T20:21:00.000-08:00

If you were looking for your denizen hipsters today, chances are they were all at the first annual American Apparel flea market at their downtown factory. Not knowing what to except from this event, I should have camped out cuz by the time I got there around 12ish, the line already snaked around the parking lot with about 2000+ people all waiting their turn to score some stuff. Trying to find the end of the line was sort of a gauntlet of hipsters/scensters/what have you's eyeing you and and your choice of clothes for the day.

After waiting in line for about 4 hrs, finally got in and hoped that some of the good stuff was left. The place was a clusterf*ck inside. Besides the long lines, there were piles of clothes organized by $1, $7, and $10 dumped on tarp mats. People just sat in the middle of the pile of clothes and dug through the apparel (most were either xxl or xs, it was really hard to find a medium in any of the popular items like hoodies and shirts). Despite the craziness and mass confusion/chaoticness, I went home with about 5 shirts and 3 hoodies for less than 40 bucks.

Waiting in line...for the finding 'emo' ride...

Look at the stars see how they shine for you

2007-11-11T13:24:00.000-08:00

'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

2007-11-11T11:06:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-03T14:39:00.000-07:00

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

2007-11-03T09:06:00.001-07:00

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.

Stuff my face day: Palms/Culver City edition

2007-10-14T14:26:00.000-07:00

Part I

Yesterday, M and I discovered a neighborhood Indonesian cafe/market on National called Simpang Asia. This might be the new go-to spot for Indonesian food since the other one (I won't mention the name) has a creepy cook who gives me the shivers. Plus, the food is reasonably priced and service is fast! M had the Nasi Rames and and I tried the Satay Ayam with a side of rice cakes. To start, we split the risoles which is good with sambal.

The little grocery store had some dutch treats like hagel and cookies, but I spotted some other Asian goodies like pocky sticks and Hi-Chew!

Simpang Asia
10433 National Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 815-9075

Part II

For dinner we decided to check out Cinco de Mayo on Sepulveda. I love taco stands and this one happens to be open 24 hrs. Compared to Tito's Tacos (which is right next door and always has a line), this place was kinda empty..which was fine by me cuz I get turned off by long lines anyway. The place has well over 50 items to choose from including hamburgers and American or Mexican breakfast!

11204 Washington Pl
Culver City, CA 90230
(310) 391-5354

The first ever Swerve Festival

2007-09-30T18:55:00.000-07:00

Today M and I decided to check out Swerve festival at Barnsdall Art Park. To sum it up, Swerve festival is chock-full of music, art, and films happening around the Silver Lake/ Hollywood area. We got there just in time to watch the music videos at the theater. My personal music video favs were RJD2 "Work it Out" directed by Joel Garfield and The Whitest Boy Alive "Golden Cage" with animation by Geoff McFetridge. Turns out some of the directors were in the audience and talked about their work after the screening. We didn't stick around for the free concerts (Oh no! Oh my! was scheduled to play), but did end up eating at Electric Lotus for a late afternoon lunch. Yummy!

From left to right: Sage Vaugh & Syd garon (NASA "Way Down"), Stefan Nadelman (Menomena "Evil Bee"), Cheryl Dunn (Coconut Records "West Coast"), Joey Garfield (RJD2 "Work It Out"), and Festival Director Jonathan Wells.

Pinwheel by Geoff McFetridge

"Permanent" tattoo booth

welcome to the future

2007-09-17T20:55:00.000-07:00

It being the first time in Los Angeles, we decided to check out the Wired NextFest.

I thought the event was going to be an all day thing, sort of like comic con (but without funky cheese smelling nerds). Really not much to say about this event, except that I hate the moon.

One lady got angry at the parking lots across the streets because after noticing that there weren't a lot of people attending this festival, they dropped the parking prices from 15 to 10. I guess she parked in one of those lots.

yep, welcome to the future, biatch!

Hey! Captain Rex escaped from Star Tours! Oh no! We're caught in a tractor beam!

Keepon!

This guy made a robot of himself. Can you tell which one is real?

Sunday Funday

2007-09-09T23:46:00.001-07:00

Mark your calendars boys and girls because today September 9, 2007 will go down in M and K history as the day I first went to the world famous Rose Bowl Swap meet. When people (blogs, LA magazine, etc.) say this is the place to be, they aren't kidding. With list in hand we ventured from booth to booth. For the record, my list consisted of transformers, western shirts, records, flip clocks, kicks, posters, 80s cartoons bedsheets, and a retro desk chair. Unfortunately, I was only able to acquire two of those items. Nevertheless, we had a blast but were pretty much worn out by the time we made our way to the clothing area. I scored an empire strikes back bedsheet and a loose grimlock transformer. I came *this* close to purchasing a jumbo mazinger type toy (with body made of that shampoo bottle plastic). Krystle scored some sweet pyrex dishes but methinks fire king is now on her list. The selection is a pack rat's dream and I saw things that I remember from my youth. I wanted this kitschy go-bots poster but 25 was too much for a poster of some poor man's transformers.

Since were in pasadena, we decided to check out pie n' burger. First, the burgers were awesome, and they make their own soda there meaning they mix the syrup and soda water by hand. It being our first time there, we also ordered some pie (apple) ala mode. Twas damn tasty.
I can see the Swap Meet/Pie 'n Burger becoming a monthly tradition.

Get there early because stylish Japanese tourists take all the good stuff
(especially return of the jedi drinking glasses)

Pics:

Pressed Pennies

2007-09-07T22:01:00.000-07:00

Whenever I went to Disneyland, Sea World, or Knott's Berry Farm as a kid, I always made sure to stop by at one of those smashed pennies machines...they were the cheapest souvenirs at only 51 cents! I have a small collection of random ones from Vegas, Pea Soup Anderson's in Solvang, and even one from Ripley's Believe It or Not. At my last trip to Disneyland, I chanced upon this ominous looking penny machine in New Orleans Square:

A coffin! How scary is that? I didn't actually get a pressed souvenir from this one because it was dying for quarters only. 0___o
Maybe next time.

They didn't invent the chicken

2007-08-29T19:47:00.000-07:00

I love Chick-fil-A and their endless selection of sauces (c'mon, they have Polynesian sauce...a little taste of the pacific islands in your own mouth!). The closest one to me is in Torrance at the Del Amo mall which is really sad because they should open more of these chicken fast food places in the L.A. area. Did I mention they have waffle fries? That's like CrissCut fries from Carl's Jr., but better because you can dip it in ketchup. Then dip it in bbq sauce. Then mix it up and dip it in ranch. See, they have tons of sauces! I usually order the kid's Chik-fil-A nugget combo which usually comes with some educational toy/book which, I guess, is better than a beanie baby or minature barbie. Only thing that sucks for the chicken sandwich lover is that they're closed on Sundays (i.e. a day for rest).

clockwise from top left: buffalo, polynesian, honey mustard, bbq, ranch = YUM.

Africanitas Ricas and Carne Asada!!

2007-08-23T20:05:00.000-07:00

SAY WHAT?

So coming home from work, not really looking forward to eating a Lean Cusine for dinner. I have a choice between french bread pizza or pasta, but I'm craving for something spicy...something fatty to tide me over from a long day's work, but decide that my taste buds will just have take it or leave it. But..what's this? I see what seems to be a makeshift taco stand in front of the next door apartment. I eagerly check it out and hope I don't look like some loser introuding on a party or a nosey neighbor trying to stage some investigation and call the police. Turns out this taco stand has moved from place to place around the hood, first next to the Ranch Mercado on Beverly and Reno...now here? In the middle of my street?!?!? Thank you carne asada and carnita gods for listening to my pleas for something spicy and fatty. For 2 bucks I got two carne asada tacos with cilantro and salsa. Delicious! I hope the taco stand comes back next week....

Yummy, yummy tacos

So a couple weeks ago, I picked up I Like Food, Food Tastes Good from Borders..basically a book about what rockers eat when they're not rocking out. I decided to make Devandra Banhart's dessert "Africanitas Ricas" because it seemed fairly simple to do and who doesn't like fried bananas? I tweaked the recipe a little bit (his reciped didnt have specific measurements) and used plantains instead of regular bananas and also substituted cinammon graham crackers for the boring one. It came out pretty tasty...except that the bananas weren't ripe, but sprinkle some sugar on it and it'll make your stomach smile!

Random rules 8/18

2007-08-19T00:32:00.000-07:00

+ Saw Superbad today. Hands down funniest movie ever thanks to the most awesome Michael Cera, he of Arrested Development and Clark and Michael fame.

+ The more things I pack up for storage the more crap I see that I need to get. This week Simpsons toys at (fur)Burger King that make sounds. On another toy note, I was able to finally score a BK boba fett toy from that comic shop near the bakery mentioned in the previous post. Place is pretty swank once you go in.

+ My New Pornographers preorder arrived today. Thing is they give you three blank CDs on which you have to burn mp3s. What the hell kind of scam is that??? But the CD is jawesome.

+ Just got back from Virginia. Got my seafood on and learned that when eating softshell crab, they expect you to eat the whole damn thing sans eyes.

+ watching/listening to: the go! team, pavement, new pornographers, spoon, stars, aqua teen movie, DC Animated Universe, New Avengers, World War Hulk, computer networking, hannah montana

I'm in the mood for cupcakes

2007-08-12T10:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we decided to check out Hotcakes Bakes over on Washington Blvd in the Mar Vista area. I was hankering for something sweet and decided to try the chocolate with chocolate sprinkles and frosting while the bf got the butterscotch brownie. I was a little disappointed that for the price we paid for the desserts, they tended to be on the smaller side compared to rival dessert stores I've visited. Not to say the least, it was surprisingly good. Not sickening sweet, but just enought to wake me up from my afternoon coma. I tried a bite of the butterscotch brownie and tasted nuts. I like butterscotch, but kinda picky when nuts are in brownies. The cake selection looked yummy...

store is located at 4119 South Centinela (@ the corner of Washington Blvd) Los Angeles, CA 900066

Gnome sweet gnome

2007-08-10T22:03:00.000-07:00

Ever since I visited F&S fabrics in July, I've been hungry for fabric. I don't even consider myself that crafty. . . I've only made two pillows so far. The colorful patterns and bold colors make me fabric crazy. It's like Pokemon, I "gotta catch 'em all." Going to Joanne's fabrics is like being a kid in a candy store. At work the other day, I found myself on etsy looking for fabrics and found some cute designs with owls and birds.

Anyway, I thought this pattern was cute because it has...GNOMES! Gnomes are awesome.

This fabric and other awesomely cool fabrics and patterns brought to you by Sew Mama Sew.

Comic-con 07 aka BO/Butt Smellfest 07 (with pop culture booths)

2007-08-04T09:23:00.000-07:00

Pictures of Comic-Con 2007. We wanted to hit up Saturday per tradition, but for the first time ever Saturday sold out. So we braved another sold out crowd on Sunday.

Naruto was there in full force. There were also more people dressed in Naruto gear than last year. But Avatar is way better anyway.

Geico doesn't cover Optimus Prime's battle damage anymore. Homeboy had to improvise.
Also, he likes comic conventions.

This toy is just opening up the market for the baby Green Goblin and baby Gwen Stacy Brooklyn Bridge playset.

The cost of this Batman Lego Set was a 2 billion kajiggers.

I checked. Chim-chim was NOT in the trunk.

RRRRRAwawrararaarwarar*

*Mark's chewbacca noise. You know how it sounds.

More comic-con photos here

Don't have a cow, man.

2007-07-22T17:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the boyfriend and I decided to check out the OC Fair Cowabunga because it's the quintessential summer activity to do. Walk in the sun amongst crowds and strollers, sweat profusely, smell like cows...what's not to love about it? I had hoped that when I entered the fair, it would be something like the Step by Step sitcom intro...I'd run through the turnstiles, then a barrage of balloons would intrude Patrick Duffy as my step-dad. Rather than just tell you a detailed journey of the day, here are some pictures. Enjoy.

Welcome to the fair! A lot of the workers had British accents. I wonder if this has something to do with Beckham coming to LA?

I wish I had this for lunch. Smelled so good.

Instead, we had this...which at 10.25 was a scam! Those don't look like steak fries to me. We could have ordered a bucket of chicken and a family meal from KFC. :(

Strange. Why are these two cows holding hamburgers and kebabs?

This lemonade stand is just so kitsch and cute. I wish I could have one at home.

This famiy is out to win every oversized stuffed animal there is! Note the kid's awesome rattail.

This is actually a stakeout for Chris Hansen and the To Catch a Predator crew.

A little pilaf with Edith Piaf

2007-07-20T21:59:00.000-07:00

The other night a friend and I decided to watch La Vie En Rose at the Laemmle in Pasadena and wanted to grab a quick bite before the movie. We ate at Radhika's Restaurant and sampled their chicken tikka masala, plain naan, and a side order of basmati rice. The chicken was delicious and not too spicy, naan had a hint of garlic which was also yummy, the service was excellent (the waiters were quick to refill my water). The downside of this superb meal was a lady sitting behind us who was on her blackberry the entire time she ate. She texted while she drank her Merlot. Complained rather loudly to whomever she talked to that she had a rough day. A cute old couple next to us also noticed the lady's annoying cell phone behavior and piped in that diners sitting around her were starting to have a rough day listening to her ramble about nothing particularly important (old people are cool like that).

I'm pretty sure there are tons of reviews out there about La Vie en Rose, but Marion Cotillard is a superb actress and she deserves an Oscar nod for her role. Read the L.A. Times review here.

Jo Ann's fabric store in Glendale

2007-07-17T20:15:00.000-07:00

After work today, I decided to check out Jo Ann's fabric store in Glendale. I hang out in Glendale a lot-mostly at the galleria and the fashion center (where nordstrom rack and michaels are located).

I've been doing some arts and crafts with fellow co-workers and after completing my very first sewing project aka a sweet pillow, I've been dying to go to fabric stores and check out some stuff. As much as I love Project Runway and Daniel Vosovic, I'm pretty sure kids are better than me at sewing. I've been to F&S fabrics on pico and looove their button selection. Not sure what I'd do with a whole button collection if I ever started one...maybe open up a button museum?

Although Joann has a decent aisle for buttons, I can't really compare it to F&S. But at least they have buttons...I was bummed when I went to Michaels and found no such button aisle there. I ended up picking up a couple sets of buttons at 90 cents each, some pinstripe fabric to make a pillow for my boyfriend, and this uber cool cherry blossom fabric! There's a lady named Rachel who was super cool and friendly and gave me a discount on the pinstripe fabric since there was less than a yard left. Sweet deal.

Anyone know where I can find fabric or button stores in the LA area?