Pure Luck Restaurant

Pure Luck is located on 707 N. Heliotrope Dr. It is a vegan restaurant. I've gone a couple times. I've gotten the Jack's Super Burrito Wrap and the Baja Burrito. I have to admit I wasn't to impressed with either. The Baja Burrito wasn't bad, but I didn't like the Super Burrito Wrap at all. For the Super Burrito Wrap, I think the problem for me was the BBQ sauce. I'll give a thumbs up on the french fries; however.




I know from reading Yelp that people really like this restaurant. To each his/her own.

Up on intraffik.com: October Soundtrack

I am up on intraffik.com with my October Soundtrack. Check it out. Here's a list of the bands I have as my October Soundtrack:

The Belleville Outfit
The Henry Clay People
Aushua
Happy Hollows
Pity Party
The Boxing Lesson
The Health Club
The New Hotness
The New Fidelity
New Maximum Donkey

Check out the link. There is more there to see, hear, and read.

Hollywood Forever: Dia De Los Muertos

I headed off to Dia De Los Muertos for the second straight year. My sense was that the event was less attended this year than last year. I'm making this based on the fact that it was much easier for my group of friends to stick together. Last year, we all got seperated within a few minutes.

Last year, we focused more on the various alters. This year we watched some of the various cultural programs that took place. And we stopped off to grab some food.

This is an event I'd suggest that people check out. See below for some photos from the night.

Pittsburgh versus Minnesota: 27-17 Steelers

This was a stressful game.

Here's my issue again with the Pittsburgh Steelers: come on, what's up with the special teams. Another touchdown. Give me a break.

Rocking note about the game: That LaMarr Woodley 77-yard fumble return for a touchdown was just an awesome play. It was just awesome seeing the Steelers defense blocking for Woodley.

An awesome play that was made by Minnesota: When Adrian Peterson just destroyed William Gay in the open field . . . or mercy.

The last three minutes or so were nail biting. Seeing Brett Farve with the football, marching down the field, that was scary.

The Steelers totally missed out on two additional touchdowns. The penalty that forced the Steelers to kick a field goal and the fumble made this closer than it should have been as the Steelers did seem to control this game.

Brewery Art Walk

I headed off to the Brewery Art Walk on Saturday, October 24th. It was a nice afternoon. I spent around two hours there. Many of the artist took time to talk with people. I had a short conversation with one photographer, Robert Kawika Sheer, who had interesting shadow photography where he set the exposure for over an hour at night and then place himself in the photos via flash.

Adam Marsland and his Chaos Band, Rob Z and Pu$$y Cow at El Cid

Rob Z had his monthly El Cid show. The theme was: Cartoons and Cocktails, an animated evening. Adam Marsland and his Chaos Band were up first. One of their songs was the theme song from Josie and the Pussy Cats.







Next up was Rob Z who opened up the set by saying, "Great to be back at the El Cid Lounge and Casino." It was a fun set.















To close the night out was Pu$$y Cow. In the past, Pu$$y Cow used to always close out the night. I think its been awhile since I've seen them close out the night.





If you take a close look, you'll see that these are cheat notes from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.



A most interesting conversation was overheard on my part. A young lady was getting into a rather animated conversation with a friend about how some of her co-workers who made way more money than her were living it up and were nothing but debt slaves.

A Movie Review: Jennifer's Body

"Jennifer's Body" . I wasn’t as disappointed with this movie as many appear to be. It is a horror movie with a lot of humor and not too scary, which is the way I like horror flicks. I actually enjoyed the friendship between the two girls in the movie. I enjoyed seeing the loyalty. I even enjoyed the farcical bar fire. Hey, not a great movie, but enjoyable enough.

Wild Animal story for Los Angeles

I was recently out walking one evening. I walked pass by a group of folks, a couple adults watching over their kids playing in the yard. I turned to walk up a street when I heard a dog barking. Next thing I know a coyote comes running right in front of me, perhaps no more than 5 yards away. Behind me, a father yells out, "Coyote."

Yes, in Los Angeles, we have the occasional wild animal running around in the middle of civilization.

The Shakers and Diana Gone Wrong @ Skinny's

If you follow my blog, you may have noticed a longer than normal absence from providing a music blog . . . or maybe not. Anyways, I was feeling like I was close to the illness edge for awhile and decided to get some good sleep in. And then my work hours picked up for awhile. But come this Monday, I decided it was time to go out. Out I went to check out my friends, The Shakers. They rocked it.

I also ran into my friends from The Mulhollands. They've had some tough luck recently. Matt had his electric organ stolen. Sarah Jeanette recently had her laptop computer stolen.








I also got to see Diana Gone Wrong. They're led by an enthusiastic female lead singer/guitarist.

A Movie Review: Zombieland

"Zombieland". This movie was hysterical. It is hard to say which is the better zombie comedy movie: "Zombieland" or "Shaun of the Dead". I'll have to go back to see "Shaun of the Dead" to make a determination. Either way "Zombieland" more than holds its own. Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin all are just perfectly cast. And then the cameo by Bill Murray is just awesome.

My only complaint: The theme park scene where the two girls turn on the theme park when every survivor knows that music attracts zombies. Oh well, it made for a nice climatic ending.

Random encounter where I was invisible

I was out at a local mall when I noticed a friend of mine walking along with his two daughters. I waved. They walked right past me. Not only did they walk pass me, they walked on either side of me. My friend and one daughter walked to my left and the other daughter walked to my right. My friend was off in Internetland, playing around on his Blackberry. Funny.

A Movie Review: 9

"9". A cartoon about the future chaos of the world. I have to say I enjoyed the movie, but I also felt cheated. The movie starts out with a grand vision -- the end of humanity destroyed by machines we helped create. Then a scientist creates life and we have 9 creatures. It felt like a perfect set-up for a tale of mortality or life or creation or something more than what the movie brought. The movie essentially is about the action these 9 creatures take to destroy the Great Machine. This is a reason for an action movie, which is fine, but in my mind the premise of the movie promised so much more.

Numb

Started work at around 8:15 a.m. It is now 11:15 p.m. and I'm still at work.

Fortune Cookie said: Chances of glamour and excitement are coming to you.

I don't know. I think I stole that fortune from someone else. I'm not exactly wanting glamor.

Michael Crichton's Airframe: Book Review

I recently read an old Michael Crichton called “Airframe.” It was written back in 1996. The story plot, if one doesn’t already know, starts with a midair airplane disaster. The pilot is able to land the plane, but a handful of individuals have died and many are injured. The story then deals with the aftermath – the investigation by the manufacturer, the press interest in the story, etc.

This book actually took longer for me to read than I thought it would when I started. Work took up some time for a couple weeks. Then there is my blogging addiction. And then there are all those television shows I’m watching.

So what did I think of the book? I’ll give it an average grade when compared to other literature. I’ll admit that I don’t think of Michael Crichton as a fabulous writer (I feel the same way about John Grisham.) I just read him, because he’s quick and provides you with some mindless entertainment. To me, it is like watching Everyone Loves Raymond while eating dinner. Did it fit the bill of mindless entertainment? Yes, it did. Of the recent Crichton books I’ve read, I’d say it was one of the better ones – compared to State of Fear, Next and Timeline.

Now why did it take me so long to get around to reading this book when I’ve obviously read many of his more recent ones? I got this book about five years ago when someone left it on the “take-it-if-you-want-it” counter at work. For some reason, I just never got around to it until this year.

The Shakers @ Fox and Hounds

I was supposed to pick up my parents at the airport, but the unfortunately got stuck in New York -- having missed their flight to LAX. Since I had some free time come midnight-ish, I headed off to see The Shakers at Fox and Hounds. It was a nice time to catch up with friends.

A Book Review: The Lost Symbol

Includes major spoiler info. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. I was looking forward to this book. I wanted some nice quick escapism. I also was reading some decent book reviews, which only increased my anticipation.

As I started to read the book, I really got into it. There were a number of interesting facts that came out such as Washington D.C. at one time being called Rome and that there was an Internal Flame inside the Capital Building. Then some warning signs started to pop up. The character Mal'Akh, the antagonist, started to get into these mystical theories of power. I started to wonder if this book was going to explore mystical powers, which I found just a bit irritated. But I figured it was just his deranged thinking, so it didn't concern me too much.

Then I got closer to the end of the book and got this sense that a great disappointment was about to arrive. The point of the book was to unravel a Mason pyramid. The pyramid's hidden message was getting solved throughout the book, piece by piece. With about 20 pages from the end, I knew that there just wasn't enough time to wrap things up and explain a rather explosion revelation that would make sense in the context of the book. And so to my great disappointment, the great symbol that would save mankind was . . . the Holy Bible. There was some talk about how the Holy Bible had secret coding written into it that would save mankind, but this conclusion had a been there, done there feel as there is already a book out there called the The Bible Code. I never read this book, but I'm sure it is a similar storyline as that that ended The Lost Symbol.

So to end it: after spending three weeks reading this book, I felt like I'd wasted my time.

Aaron Beaumont @ Hotel Cafe

Thursday night it was off to see Aaron Beaumont at Hotel Cafe. This was his final show of his US tour. It was a fun night. He tossed in some stories from his tour. For example, he was pulled over in Montana for speeding. The officer said that since he was out of state he'd have to pay cash. (Sounds suspicious.) Anyways, the ticket was only $40. That's nice.

Regarding $40. Aaron requested that Hotel Cafe record the night. I believe I heard that it costs $40 to record a session at Hotel Cafe.

See below some photos from the night.