Los Angeles

At the end of January I was lucky enough to take a last minute business trip to LA. It was my first business trip and it was frustrating to not be able to handle it like a vacation. Normally I would have the entire trip planned and spend every wakened hour out and about exploring. Instead, I spent most of my time on set dealing with landscapers and setting up time-lapses. I can't complain though because I got to experience a plethora of amazing food and shared a baggage carousel with Andy Dick. When all is said and done, let it be known: LA is a ridiculously good food town.

Here's a list of where I got to eat, loosely ranked from my favorite to my least favorite:

- City Sip (great wine deals, great cheeses, stoned waitstaff)
- Kogi (Mexican style Korean BBQ served out of a truck whose location you follow on Twitter)
- The Kitchen (I'm embarrassed to boast about how ridiculous their turkey burger is)
- Soy Cafe (1st pho experience)
- Wurstkuche (snake sausage, truffle oil fries with curry ketchup)
- Malo ($1 taco night!)
- Bacon-wrapped Hot Dog outside of the Drawing Room (a dive bar frequented by Kiefer Sutherland)
- Lemongrass (really good appetizers, but I ordered off of the Specials and it was a tad under-seasoned)
- Vinoteca Farfalla (again, really good appetizers, but my short rib was not spicy like advertised, although it was remarkably tender)
- In-N-Out Burger (Animal Style. NBD)
- The Oinkster (I regretfully ate healthy here, but the goat cheese crouton was cool. Their pastrami looked nuts.)

... and this doesn't include all of the authentic Mexican places we ordered from on set. One word: "sopa".

And watering holes:

- The Dresden (yes, the 2 singers were there)
- Silverlake Wine ($4 wine tasting + free cheese. Somehow Carla noticed some New Melrose Place cast members. And I thought no one watched that...)
- The York (food looked/smelled really good, but only got drinks. Cool interior, nice local beers.)
- 4100 (darkest. bar. ever... good juke box)
- Formosa Cafe (I think this place is "known". Not sure.)
- Good (was OK. Large beer list, but nothing too crazy. Waiter was weird. And there's no bar, only tables)



"If patience started a band / I'd be her biggest fan" - Elliott Smith

Damn the 24hr News Cycle

What's with CNN and their weird obsession with annoying hip-hop personalities? It all started with the hologram will.i.am on election night! This is what I just witnessed on CNN:

“Wyclef Jean just sent this Tweet and I want to share it with you: ‘buildings falling N da Capital of haiti, but n order 2 clean up da capital we need a massive Exodus.’ He says the buildings are falling. He says they need everybody to leave. He says, ‘I am calling on da US Army.’ That’s Wyclef Jean making that statement a little while ago. He Tweeted that and we wanted to share that with you. We think it’s relevant, we think it’s important, we think it’s news worthy.” – CNN’s Rick Sanchez.

Naturally, this was followed up with CNN’s “Most Intriguing Person of the Day” segment. Of course it was Larry Platt, the mastermind behind the viral “Pants on the Ground.”

Camokini

"The pervasiveness of camouflage - from fashion to war - attests to the troubled relationship with violence that seems to characterize modern times." - Thomas Hirschhorn

Seattle Seahighlighters

"Check out the new Seahawks jerseys. If you don't think they're awesome, you need awesome lessons."

- Neil Everett, SportsCenter

Adopting a Theory by Megan Fox

This month's RollingStone features an in-depth interview with the adroit Megan Fox. She drops pearls of wisdom left and right, but the one I'll be taking to heart is her advice on how to avoid dieing in a plane crash:

"She happily elaborates on why she likes to listen to Britney Spears on her iPod while flying: 'Flying really freaks me out, but I know that it's not my destiny to die while listening to Britney.' "

So, next time I'm on a plane, I'll be sure to be pumping some Nickelback. Real loud.

37 Years

My parents have been married 37 years as of today. Not to sound cheesy, but hopefully I learned something from them.

I feel the need to recycle this excerpt from an old MySpace blog since MySpace is dead to me...

Quoting my Mom: "Marriage isn't about how many rooms of the house you can have sex in; it's about being there for the other person when they need you... it's having your husband hold a pillow against your boo boo."

As Andre 3000 would say, "Thank God for Mom and Dad, for sticking through together."

Burn, Baby, Burn

"Most of us can't rush around, talk to everyone, know all the cities of the world, we haven't time, money or that many friends. The things you're looking for are in the world, but the only way the average chap will ever see ninety-nine percent of them is in a book. Don't ask for guarantees. And don't look to be saved in any one thing, person, machine, or library. Do your own bit of saving, and if you drown, at least die knowing you were headed for shore."

- Faber, from "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury

Guitar Dog

"Among God's creations, two, the dog and the guitar, have taken all the sizes and all the shapes in order not to be separated from the man."

- Andres Segovia

No Reservations

"Travel isn't always pretty.
It isn't always comfortable.
Sometimes it hurts.
It even breaks your heart.
But that's OK.
The journey changes you.
It should change you.
It leaves marks on your memory,
on your consciousness,
on your heart,
and on your body.
You take something with you.
Hopefully, you leave something good behind."

-Anthony Bourdain; taken from No Reservations: Malaysia.

The Reader

"I thought that if the right time gets missed, if one has refused or been refused something for too long, it's too late, even if it is finally tackled with energy and received with joy. Or is there no such thing as 'too late'? Is there only 'late', and is 'late' always better than 'never'? I don't know."

- Bernhard Schlink, The Reader

Vonnegut

"And I asked myself about the present: how wide it was, how deep it was, how much was mine to keep."