ArtWalk Culver City 2009

I spent a couple hours at the ArtWalk Culver City 2009. Stolen from the guide: Emerging as well as established artists are exhibited in galleries throughout the Culver City area. More than thirty galleries are concentrated along Washington and La Cienega Boulevards in the Culver City Art District.

I along with some friends visited about 16 of the galleries.

It was a great time.

My one suggestion: I knew where the ArtWalk occurred, but I didn't noticed any signs that helped people head towards the ArtWalk. Also, I didn't notice any welcome booths. I would think there would be welcome booths in various locations to help direct people. I know it is a self-guided tour, but having some signs around the area as well as some welcome booths would be helpful and probably not cost all that much money.

Below are a handful of photos I took:

Hitting a minor milestone: 1,000 page views

I admit my blog is one of the least read blogs on the Internet . . . but then this is why I figure I should highlight hitting a minor milestone. I've reached 1,000 page views.

I started this blog up in October 2007, but I didn't take it seriously until this year. Of my slightly over 1,000 page views, close to 75% occurred in 2009.

Here are the current top page views:

1. 150 page views going directly to the blog.

2. 117 page views for a blog called "Toonerville Gang gives Glendale/Los Angeles the middle finger."

3. 53 page views for a blog called "Spider Problem @ Juanita's (Highland Park)."

4. 43 page views for a blog called "Pittsburgh Steelers v. Cincinnati Bangles."

5. 24 page views for a blog called "Drew Street (Avenues) Gang: bastion torn down."

Unfortunately for some reason, I misspelled Bangals in that football blog. Interestingly, the Steelers blog was one I wrote back in 2007 and yet it ranks as one of the most read -- maybe because people caught the misspelling and found it amusing?

The two gang blogs seem to get reads every time various gangs make the headlines in Los Angeles.

I am pleased that at least one music blog made the top five page views.

Hopefully, I keep blogging. Next milestone checkmark is 5,000 -- if I remember.

State of Play: Movie Review

State of Play kept my attention. I was all into the intrigue. As with 24 (the TV show), it is taking on the military contractors. The movie does fall apart slightly in the last few minutes. There is a scene (SPOILER) with Russell Crowe, the assassin and the police that I just think takes the movie outside the realms of “this is really possible” to “the writers, producers, studio, director, whoever" put this scene in just so that they could have some Hollywood added suspense. I don't think it was needed.

Earth: Movie Review

I’m guessing I must be anti-nature. I saw Earth at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. First, starting off with a positive spin, it was an interesting experience at El Capitan Theatre. There was a brief animal show with a fox, porcupine, alligator and lynx (or some manner of animals that are similar in nature – I’ve forgotten the exact animals.) As for the movie itself, I found it a tad boring. It wasn’t totally boring to the core, because there were moments that tugged at your heart. I found myself feeling sorry that the (SPOILER) father polar bear died. I was sad that an elephant got jumped by ten or so lions – what an ugly way to meet your end. Of course, I probably would have felt bad if the polar bear had killed a walrus or if an elephant had stomped on a lion (I wonder if elephants stomp on lions at times.) It wasn’t a long movie, but after awhile I just wanted it to end. If that is how I feel about a movie, I tend to describe a movie like that as a tad boring that failed to keep my interest.

Note: I mentioned to some friends that elephants must be really stupid animals. There is that scene where the elephant gets attacked by lions. If you have a defensive perimeter set up and you know there are lions, why would you leave the safety of that perimeter? A friend replied that the whole story wasn’t told. That elephant was a late arriver. Apparently, Earth is partially recycled from a television miniseries called Planet Earth. So maybe elephants aren’t stupid. I apologize to the elephants for questioning their intelligence.

Monsters vs. Aliens

Monsters vs. Aliens. Maybe I’m at a point in life where cartoons just don’t interest me anymore. Maybe I was a bit tired when I saw this movie. I don’t know if it is my fault that I did not like this movie at all. On the other hand, maybe the movie just isn’t all that great. Honestly, it seemed like an extended version of various cartoon shorts I used to watch in the mornings. The movie has the evil alien who lives light years away, coming to Earth to conquer the world. I admit that most live action movies repeat the same stories of previous movies, but for some reason I just found this cartoon unimaginative and repetitive.

Season Finale: Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl: I enjoy this season greatly. I must admit that at this point I’ve lost track of who has hooked up, but who cares. This show is trashy good fun. The question for me is how many more seasons will I keep watching. I suspect at some point it’ll just get on my nerves and I’ll stop watching. This is usually what happens with these teen soap operas. For now, I’m just happy I’m experiencing it all.

Hollywood Forever Movie Night: Something to do in LA

I recently attended a Hollywood Forever Cemetery Movie night (Cinespia). I saw "To Catch a Thief," directed by Alfred Hitchcock and staring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. Briefly about the movie: previously, I've always only caught maybe 5 to 10 minutes of this movie so this was the first time I saw the whole movie. I loved it. And Grace Kelly was a true hottie.

About Hollywood Forever: It is a cemetery on Santa Monica, between Gower and Van Ness.

The donation: $10. If you're gusty, you can probably donate less. It is a donation after all.

Parking: $5 or free. You can park inside the cemetery for $5 or you can just park on the streets for free. I'd suggest checking out Gower or Bronson. If you do park inside, you should probably plan on sticking around after the movie for 20 minutes or so. There were probably 2,000 to 3,000 people at the screening and since most of them go with free parking, you're going to end up maneuvering your car through pedestrians who believe they have the right of way.

Time: The movie starts at 8:30-ish or when it turns dark; however, people start lining up around 5:30 p.m. If you want the best spots for the movie as well as the prime street parking, you should probably show up no later than 6 p.m.

The location: It is on a grassy lawn -- without graves. So you're not watching the movie while sitting on someone's grave. They show the movie against a wall.

The sound system: The sound system is good quality; however, helicopters did fly overhead at times. In the case of "To Catch a Thief" a helicopter flew over during a very important confession.

Before the movie: Food and alcohol allowed. Many people ate their dinner before the movie.

Maybe important, maybe not: it got rather chilly. Of course, Los Angeles has had really nice weather recently. I don't know if during the height of summer if it'll get that chilly. Probably not.

Moments from my time there. In one of those photos, you can see a sea horse. During the movie, it floated away, giving people a good laugh. Also, during the start of the movie, someone was trying to find their seat. On screen, the cat burglar was making a move to steal some jewels.

Intraffik article on Queen Kwong now posted

My latest column is up on Intraffik.com.

There is a moment I noticed that I failed to mention in my blog. The snare drum for Go West Young Man broke towards the end of their set. Out from the side came Carre from Queen Kwong. She grabbed her band's snare drum and offered it up. The offer was taken. I always love these moments where bands help each other out.

Season Finale: 24

24: This season was a huge turn around from season 6. At times, the only reason I watched season 6 was in the hopes that the season would miraculously turn around. This season was back to the levels of previous seasons. Perhaps it was good that the writers' strike came along. Admittedly, I was concerned about the Kim Bauer storyline for a bit. I was like, “Oh great, Kim in trouble again.” The storyline corrected itself by having Kim take some aggressive actions in the airport. My issue with the two hour finale: the preview at the end of episode 22 gave away too much. I think one of the tension spots for the finale was the Olivia storyline. Would those in the White House learn that she hired a hit man? The preview showed President Taylor confronting her daughter. So to me a significant amount of tension was no longer there, because I knew what would occur. Minor quibble. I hope next season is just as good.

Season Finale: Fringe

Fringe. I started to watch Fringe from the start. At the beginning, I was thinking, "This is interesting. It has an X-File feel to it though not as well done." There were a couple times in the year where I considered not watching it anymore due to the fact that I felt like I was spending way too much time in front of the television or computer screen watching tv shows. I continued on; however. I am happy I did, because I think that throughout the season it just got better and better. As for the season finale, I didn't watch the season finale until a few days after it officially aired. I watched it on my DVR. I have to say I enjoyed it. I'm interested in getting to learn more about this alternative universe. Do I still think it is of lower quality than the X-Files? Yes, but it is making improvements by leaps and bounds.

Action Design and The Dollyrots at Knitting Factory

I working up a column on this night for intraffik.com, but here are some photos from the night.

The Action Design.

The Dollyrots.

Fast and Furious

Fast and Furious. I’m a fan of this movie series even though I thought the second one was awful. In regards to a timeline, this fourth film starts out between the second and third films. I’m not sure; however, how many years go by in this movie so perhaps at some point this movie crosses timelines with the third one. (There appears to be some passing of time between the Dominican Republic scene and the rest of the movie.)

I have to say I enjoyed this film. It isn’t going down as some classic movie, but for an adrenaline flick it is fun. The honest truth is that I’m not even sure I followed the plot line. I’m not saying it is one of those complicated plot lines like Watchmen or Dark Knight where you better pay attention or you’ll get lost. I’m just saying that I’m not sure the plot makes any logical sense. But who cares. The movie is about seeing the old cast together. It is about seeing new hot girls – Gal Gadot fits the bill. It is about seeing cars racing around the Americas.

Note: The tunnel scenes reminded me of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Note 2: I wish Jordana Brewster had a larger role in the movie.

Note 3: I didn’t see this movie opening weekend; however . . . I did walk by a theatre on that opening Friday night. I was amazed at how many teenagers were lined up for this movie.

Season Finale: Lost

“Lost.” For me, this season was a bit up and down. The major reason is the time travel storyline. It just didn’t do it for me. That said the season finale was the best season ending episode I’ve seen in years. I was telling friends I haven’t seen an ending like that since the first season of “24.” (Internal debate: After thinking about it a bit more, I thought the series finale of “Angel” was good as well, but then that was a series finale versus a season finale. Quibble.)
What I loved most about this episode were the philosophical debates at the beginning and at the end. I’m going to steal some quotes from the EW blog.

To start the show off a stolen quote from EW.com:

NAMELESS: They come, they fight, they destroy, they corrupt. It always ends the same.

JACOB: It can only end once. Everything before that is progress.

The above is just deep. Are we living in a vicious cycle or do we as humanity progress even though our history seems to imply we go through the same vicious cycle over and over again?

Then at the end:

My quick summary of what Jacob said: Ben, you have a choice.

From EW: 'Oh, so now after all this time, you've decided to stop ignoring me,'' Ben bitched. ''I did what I was told. But when I dared to ask to see you myself I was told I had to wait...What was it that was so wrong with me? What about me?''

The above is also deep. Choice. We always have a choice. That’s what I learned in high school and that is what recently got re-affirmed to me while seeing Michael J. Fox at the LA Times Festival of Books. There are certain restrictions that are put on our lives, but from there we can make choices. Ben was told to follow Locke’s orders, but it wasn’t something he had to do. As for Ben’s comments, it was filled with the emotions of despair and jealousy.

Everything in between was brilliant as well. I loved how Sawyer got pulled by Juliet to go from anti-nuke to pro-nuke. I loved the flashbacks with Jacob – especially the one involving Hugo. I loved how certain questions were answered such as the black freighter. I loved how the newest castaways got involved. I loved how Miles questioned how anyone could know if they weren’t causing their own future by planning to explode the bomb.

Here’s my one quibble: the gun battle between the Dharma Initiative and the Oceanic team. It was one of those moments where the bad guys couldn't shoot straight and the good guys were always dead aims.

Interesting theory from EW.com regarding how next season might start:

Jacob was “quibbling” during his flashbacks; he was building loopholes and failsafe devices into each castaway’s life that will allow them to cheat death by Jughead. By physically touching each of them, he marked them in a magical way. And now, he’s going to draw them to himself, i.e., the Island, just like the electromagnetic anomaly at the Swan site started drawing anything metal into is powerful singularity. Perhaps they will all be immediately beamed to the Island in reincarnated bodies. (The promo for next season seemed to imply as much, what with Jack’s eye shooting open and reflecting back the jungle.) Or maybe it will be like this: the souls of the annihilated castaways will migrate into their bodies at the point in time that Jacob touched them. And more, I’ll bet you that they will retain all the memories of their past lives. Which means, for example, that Young James Ford will have knowledge of his fate — and can choose to try to change it, if he wishes. This is part of the great gift Jacob has given them: Not only new life, but the capacity to create their own destinies — a destiny which could include, if they wish, to go to the Island of their own free will. And they will. Remember Jacob’s last, bloody sputter: “They’re coming.”

My comment: this theory would seem to imply that everyone goes back in time and they all get back onto Oceanic. I think this probably won’t occur, because then you’d have to get all the previous actors/actresses that were killed off to come back to the show, right? I think this is unlikely; therefore, I think there will be another storyline for the final season. I can’t wait.

Here are some blogs I read. I’ll start with the worst one. This from the LA Times, “’Lost’: Alpert says what?” by Patrick Kevin Day, 14 May 2009. The reason I dislike this one the most is because the blogger doesn’t tell the Biblical Jacob and Esau story correctly. He states that Esau killed Jacob. This isn’t true.

The next blog is also from the LA Times,“’Lost’ season finale fades to white,” Mary McNamara, 14 May 2009. It is interesting because the writer has a more neutral opinion of the season finale. She doesn’t give it the high praise that I and every single friend I’ve talked to about this episode gave it.

This final blog is from the EW.com, “’Lost’ recap: Starting Over,” Jeff Jensen, 14 May 2009. There might be better bloggers out there about Lost, but there can’t be very many. I admit that above I question one of his theories about how next season will play out, but then how can you not admire such a great brainstorm on his part? This guy comes up with the most fascinating theories and comments. If you haven’t come across this "Lost" blogger, you’ve got to start reading him after every episode next season. Trust me. (Or perhaps you should just read his past articles to get his thoughts on “Lost.”)

Pu$$y Cow @ Juanita's with Beatmo and Bobot Audrenaline

This is one of those blogs I should have written the very next day after the event, but life sometimes gets too busy. Pu$$y Cow at Juanita's occurred this past Saturday night. It was Pu$$y Cow's 4th year anniversary. I do think that Pu$$y Cow is one of the few bands that celebrates their anniversaries. And each year, it is a night you don't want to miss. Not only because of the band, but because it is one of those special nights where everyone seems to know each other -- sort of like Cheers.

When I first walked into Juanita's, I noticed two things. First, they had the corner door locked, while the door parallel to York was open. It the past it was the opposite. Second, the stage was removed. I guess these moves were done to try and quiet down the music for the neighbors. I believe I mentioned in a previous blog how I'd hate to live in the area due to the sound that carries out from the place. Any moves they do to help out the neighbors ability to sleep at a decent hour must be appreciated.

The night started out with Beatmo. The last time I saw Beatmo was probably a year ago. It was awesome to see them again. What stands out in my mind wasn't the music, but what happened before they went on stage. The lead singer came right up to me and said, "Nice to see you again." It wasn't just me, of course. She went up to a number of people she knew and said hello. She has a very friendly outgoing style. Beatmo did have a first for the night. They had to go onstage without the lead singer's brother -- they mentioned they'd never done this before. Beatmo has a Latin flair to their music. The lead singer embodies this, dancing throughout the set. She dances and the crowd dances with her.

Stab City was supposed to go on stage next, but they had to cancel.

Bobot Adrenaline was next up. They're a three piece band. I always find Cory the most interesting character in the band. He's always moving around. Sometimes when other bands are playing their sets, he'll play around with their set lists. And well, he's a big Green Day fan. One time I was listening to some songs he had recorded and I swear I though I was listening to Green Day.

To end the night, Pu$$y Cow came on stage. Rob Z introduced them. They started off the night with a cover of Thin Lizzy's "Boy's are back in town." When their set ended, the soundtrack from the Olympics played while people chanted, "Four more years." What happened inbetween? The crowd was jumping. It got to the point, where Joe had to ask the men to calm down a bit, because they were getting in the way of the band and causing the girls some issues. The girls must have appreciated this, because as soon as the guys calmed down a bit, the girls came up front and started going wild. During one cover song, Chissum needed a cheat sheet. Joe made the comment, "What is that?" Someone from the audience decided to mess with the cheat sheet, but that was stopped quick enough.

If I'd written this up sooner, I probably could have written up a bit more but unfortunately work and other issues came up and so the brain is a bit clouded. Oh well . . .

A movie review: Knowing

A bit dated on the movie review, but oh well . . .

Knowing. This is a film that has an awesome beginning, middle and then . . . I wish the last ten minutes were written differently. Spoilers from now on:


Some random thoughts:


Why are the mysterious aliens so creepy? They're here to help save a part of humanity and yet they're just scaring people.


Those ships at the end reminded me of the Mars structure in Watchmen.


The tree at the end of the movie reminded me of the Biblical Garden of Eden.


My reaction:


As mentioned, I thought that most of the movie was fascinating. The assumption that life is pre-ordained and that trying to change it is useless provided a great premise. The movie doesn't cope out from its initial assumption. John Koestler cannot prevent disasters from occurring. Diana Wayland's death cannot be prevented.


What I hated were the last ten minutes or so. The whole rescue of humanity by these aliens that were rather creepy. And what did they do, they took children and dropped them off on a new planet. And they didn't group all the kids together. No, they dropped them off in different locations, probably a few miles away from each other. And does this represent a new Eden? If so, that would surely be destroyed in short order. Kids do not represent purity. They will grow up. They will have disagreements with others. And what, kids are just supposed to survive on their own, even if they find themselves on a pleasant planet?


Unfortunately, I thought this movie had a great start and middle, and then self-destructed with a rather silly ending.


Is it still worth seeing? I think it depends on rather or not you consider the ending plausible (taking into account that this is sci fi.) For me, I could have skipped this one.

Sometimes small things irritate me: box office article

Sometimes when reading an article, small things irritate me. This is a small snippet from an article on Star Trek’s opening weekend box office: Moore [Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore] said he expected the movie, which had a $140 million budget, should gross over $200 million total this summer, even with competition like “Terminator: Salvation” coming on May 21 and “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” arriving in theaters July 15.

Here’s what my small irritation is: I don't understand the "Harry Potter" comment. “Harry Potter” will open between “Star Trek’s” tenth and eleventh weekend – “Harry Potter” is opening midweek. By its eleventh weekend, “Star Trek” will be making less than one million for the weekend. That’s the nature of the beast in the film industry. (Just as an example, let’s take the big dog of last summer “Dark Knight.” In week eleven, it did only $1.7 million.) “Harry Potter” will have no impact on whether or not “Star Trek” will hit $200 million at the box office. It just makes me wonder if the mention of “Harry Potter” is just a plug for the movie.

Los Angeles Weather: First Heat Wave of Summer 09?

Did the first week of May represent the first Los Angeles heat wave of the summer?

For a week, I dealt with 6 hours of sleep a night -- hardly something I enjoy on a night after night basis. And it wasn't the best 6 hours of sleep either. It was the type of sleep where I'd sweat myself to sleep and sweat myself into the waking hours.

The heatwave finally broke this weekend and I got some really solid hours of sleep -- even if I didn't get my ideal 8 hours. (If you read my blog regularly, you know I head out to catch music every so often so 8 hours is ideal, but often times not achieved.)

Sometimes I wish I had central air. I have a feeling I'll be thinking that a lot this summer.

Movie Review: Sunshine Cleaning

”Sunshine Cleaning” is a sweet movie about a family living a tough life and trying to improve their lot. Rose (Amy Adams) is a single mother who works as a maid. She’s having an affair with a local police officer. They used to date as lead cheerleader and high school quarterback. He’s now married to someone else, but continues to see Rose. She runs into a high school cheerleading classmate who is doing very well in life – either via marriage or the fact that she is doing well in real estate. Via the earlier storyline, we learn that there is a relatively lucrative career in biohazard removal/crime scene clean-up service. She convinces her sister, Nora, to join her in the business.

I don’t think there are any great life lessons to take away from this movie. It is rather a simple movie that just happens to sweep you into the lives of the characters. I love the character of Rose. A single mother just living life, stuck in a rut of sleeping with former boyfriends and working a dead end job. Then she runs into her former classmate and she is essentially embarrassed into making something of herself. She jumps at an entrepreneurial opportunity, not having the slightest clue of what it involves. Honest truth, she probably isn’t even taking into account business expenses such as equipment and income taxes, because her first job pays only $500 while earlier you learn that someone else charges $3,000 for a similar job. She slowly finds out that there are certain certificates she must obtain and procedures she must follow. You get to witness her slowly developing a legitimate business.

With Alan Arkin in the movie, playing a father/grandfather role, you may think “Little Miss Sunshine.” I saw “Little Miss Sunshine” a long time ago so I won’t argue that there might be traces of influence, but this is definitely a movie that stands on its own.

Corn Maiden at the Hollywood Farmers Market

Do you know where the best tamales are? Well, at the Hollywood Farmers Market there is a food stand called Corn Maiden. These guys make the best tamales. Luckily, I've seen their stand at various other events so the Hollywood Farmers market doesn't have a monopoly on these tamales.

I'm a vegetarian so I haven't tried all of their tamales, but let me tell you this: the blue corn, roasted green chile and Monterey Jack tamale rocks. Also, I tried a tamale which (if you increase the size of the photo to see the list of tamales) wasn't on the menu: ricotta cheese. Wow.

$3.50 a tamale.

Heroes S3 finale

So this is a super late blog on the season finale of Heroes.

I'm sure if you're a fan of Heroes you've already read these articles. Essentially, I think these articles some up my opinion on the episode -- all essentially negative.

EW.com

Aintitcool.com

I thought this season of Heroes was a disaster. Honestly, I'm not even sure what really happened. What exactly was Nathan attempting to do? He seemed to have good intentions tied with draconian measures? And at some point during the season, did every single character turn to the dark side at one point or other? I have no clue. Maybe when the DVD comes out I'll watch the episodes within a shorter time frame and see if it makes any sense, but then I doubt I'll have the energy to do so.

On the PLUS side. The last few episodes brought "closure" to the whole mess, which means that next season can start out fresh. At least this is what I hope the last few episodes did. Of course, I've been rather disappointed with both seasons 2 & 3 so I can't help but wonder if I should just stop watching this show all together. You can only be disappointed for so long and then you just have to give up on a show, right?

I missed a day of blogging

I've been trying to post a blog a day for awhile. I noticed I failed to post a blog this past Saturday. Oh well.

(Now admittedly, sometimes I write two or three blogs in a day and then save them as drafts to post later so I'm not actually writing a blog a day. I know I intended to post something on Saturday. I failed to remember to shift a blog from draft mode.)

Anyways, my goal is to see how long I can go posting a blog a day. I have another blog ready to go for later this afternoon.

So for the five people who read this blog on a semi-regular basis, keep coming back for awhile because I'm going to keep posting even though very few people read this blog.

Great Northern on inTraffik.com

Another column by yours truly is up on intraffik.com. Go check it out.

Great Northern.

Echo Curio: Go West Young Man, Queen Kwong and The Mo-odds

I may do a longer write-up on this night for inTraffik.com so I'll keep this brief. Echo Curio is a small art gallery on Sunset Blvd. Where is it located? Since it is called Echo Curio, you would be right if you guessed that perhaps it is in Echo Park.

Great night. Great music. Perhaps more to come in the near future on another website.

The Mo-odds

Go West Young Man

Queen Kwong

Cheers and I hope you enjoyed the photos.