The One Mile Radius Project

This walk around Hollywood was around the Gower/Franklin/Bronson/Carlos area.



Pep Boys with the W Hotel in the background.

One of the larger church buildings in the area.

Artfully decorated fire hydrant.

Now would I want to live in an apartment or condo complex that overlooked a gas station? No.

Gates of an older apartment complex.

Gelson's.

We stopped at The Oaks Gourmet for some beverages.

Inside the Oaks Gourmet.

Scientology celebrity location.

Another apartment building. Someone I was walking with mentioned they liked the fire escape ladders. I agree.

Dreams: Fun turned to Business

I was hanging with a friend. We were going to carpool to Universal Studios. A number of other people where going, as well. When we got there, we got sent to a conference room instead of getting to go inside the park. This was going to be a business meeting. The place was crowded so we sat in different sections of the room. The music was on loud so I went to lower the volume, but couldn’t figure it out. At this point, the president of my company came over and also tried to lower the volume, but he wasn’t able to figure it out either. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw some of my friends with their kids walking into the conference room. I was told they were forced to come, because it helped all of us get a better discount to Universal Studios. I felt sorry for them for having to sit in a conference room and listen to a boring business meeting before being allowed to have fun in the theme park.

Oh the Spanish Moss and Roll the Tanks at Silverlake Lounge

I'm thinking of doing a write-up over on intraffik.com so I'll just post a couple photos from the night.

Oh the Spanish Moss



Roll the Tanks

Queen Kwong @ The Echo

The last time I went to catch Queen Kwong, I was supposed to meet a friend over at Spaceland. He eventually arrived, but too late to catch Queen Kwong.

Another chance came his way this past Wednesday at The Echo. He got there, having rushed over directly from work.

They went on stage around 9:15. Carre was suffering through a bit of a cold, coughing off and on throughout the set. She didn't seem to be her normal vibrant self on stage during the first half of the set, but as the set progressed she must have left her cold behind because she kicked it up a notch.

Comment one: "Where's my shaker? And who has our set list?" The joke for the night was that apparently they had written up their set list and then lost it. Carre was asking the audience where their set list was.

Comment two: "The dramatic costume change." A switch in guitars.

Comment three: "I'm fighting a cold tonight. We're going to go with a short twenty minute set." The twenty minute set actually ended up at the standard thirty minutes. Carre was reminded by her band mate that they needed to play "Pet." And so yes, though perhaps not good for her and her health, the crowd was entertained with a full set.

After her set, it was off to the Kibitz for a birthday party.

FYI: The Echo has decided to implement a no camera policy. Oh well, I'll post some photos from a past Queen Kwong Set: May 14, 2008. This was the first time I saw Queen Kwong. This was at Silverlake Lounge. I was actually there to see Spider Problem. I got there early and caught Queen Kwong.







And go to the following LA Times link to catch of photo of the guitar player from Queen Kwong. Photo 13.

Dreams: Lost in a Parking Lot

I've had some rather short dreams recently.

I recently had a dream where I was with two friends. One was a University friend. I don't know who the other was. I had previously parked my car. We were done shopping in the mall and were now looking my car. (I'm assuming I met them at the mall, because they didn't know where my car was either.) I decided to go one intuition and said that my car must be down some stairs. We headed towards the stairs. This is where my dream ended.

I half suspect my dream had something to do with what happened to me recently in the real world. I saw Crazy Heart where the main character searches a parking lot for a missing child. I also went to a mall recently and purposely focused in on where I was parked, looking for certain landmarks.

Castledoor and Princeton @ Spaceland

This is actually one of those nights where I would normally do a write-up on intraffik.com, but I've already given mention to Castledoor in one of my columns and I'm not sure I really should repeat myself. (I have repeated myself in the past, but I do try to limit my repeats.)

I got to Spaceland at around 9:40 p.m. I walked in without much of a wait. When I got inside; however, the place was crowded. Two of my friends were on their way and I sent out text messages to them. They didn't arrive in time and were stuck waiting in line. They eventually decided to leave instead of waiting it out.

Why the crowd? I believe it was partially driven by the fact that Castledoor is breaking up. This was their last set. Did I know this? No. I can't say I'm one of their biggest fans, because this was only the second time I'd seen them.

Here's a conversation I over-heard: "I'm the biggest fan." "No, I'm the biggest fan." "He's the tallest fan."

Lead singer Nate said at the start of their set, "Just to let you know we have nothing special to give away tonight." They're known for handing out special gifts like the first time I saw them they handed out CDs they'd made of a Bob Dylan cover song they'd just recorded.

Comments from Nate: "If there is ac maybe we can get the ac going." "The fate of our band is hanging in the balance." From the audience, "Don't break up." "We've never been a cool band. I mean, we think we're cool, but we're somewhere between Radiohead and Jonas Brothers. We're in that strange space all by ourselves."

A bitter sweet set for Castledoor, I'm sure. I think they must have walked off the stage with a smile; however, because they received one of the loudest and longest cheers I've ever heard from the Spaceland crowd.

They also were holding a $1 sale on their CDs and t-shirts. A mob was around their table.








Princeton was the residency band. Intraffik just posted a column on their recent album release.

The band has a set of twins so there were a handful of twin jokes.

Comment: "We're starting with a song that starts out slow put it picks up."

Noticed: For one song, the drummer took over bass duties.





For the last song, Princeton called for people to join them up on stage and dance away. People were more than willing to dance with them.



Fun night at Spaceland even though I was once again stuck there by myself (previous one being the Hockey night where a friend failed to show).

Day of the Outlaw and Spider Problem @ American Legion Hall in Highland Park

After an early evening going away party for a friend I met eight years ago, I headed off to the American Legion Hall to catch a couple bands.

There were a handful of friends that I ran into there.

First band I saw was Day of the Outlaw.





The last band was Spider Problem. This was the first time I saw them since they got a new guitarist. Watching the band, I realized that except for Shayne, all the band members are new when compared to when I first saw them way back when. I obviously knew this before hand, but it strikes you harder when you see them on stage.

As for my friends, one friend admitted she'd never seen Spider Problem. She was quizzed about this fact. "Spider Problem played at Redwood." "Spider Problem played at Juanita's that one night." "No, I wasn't there."

I didn't see the first two bands, but I can't help but think that Spider Problem was the main draw of the night. Not to knock Day of the Outlaw, but for their set folks stayed rather far from the stage. For Spider Problem, folks crowded the stage area.

As the band was about to start playing, one of their friends said: No punching today. Can we agree on that?

Shayne replied: Yes, no fighting today. If you were at L'Keg and were fighting, please go home.

The L'Keg show must have been interesting.

Their first song had a Mazzy Star feel to it and then from there they were their wild self. Before their last song, Shayne whispered to all her band mates. I don't think anyone in the audience knew this, but that was going to be their last song. I'm not sure of the exact title name, but the words 'I'm losing out' were sung. As she was singing this, Shayne and the guitarist were trying to push each other off to the side. Shayne lost.

I couldn't help but wonder if Shayne was feeling ill towards the end of her set. She grabbed her stomach at one point. I don't know if she was part of her motions or if she had suddenly come down with something.

No bloody knee caps this time around.

Santa Anita Race Track: Friday, February 19th

Off to the Santa Anita Race Track I went on Friday, February 19th. I'd mentioned that I go to the race track every so often to a couple friends awhile back. They wanted to come along. Due to the constant winter storms and work (of course), I wasn't able to take them to the track until this Friday. (I was owed a comp day from work so heading to the track on Friday didn't reduce my vacation days.)

One friend, unfortunately had to back out, but my other friend and I headed out.

One bad thing: I was hoping it would be a nice warm day. I was constantly checking the weather report throughout the week. As you can see from the pictures below, cloud storms hovered. It didn't rain (the clouds did burst in the evening), but it was chilly.

The big thing, of course, is how did my betting go? Lost money, again. I did get some winners in half the races. So my methodology of picking horses seems to have some success, but not enough to make me money. I did switch from making trifecta bets to exacta bets. I almost came in victorious on an exacta bet (didn't even notice this until writing this blog) for the second race. I went with Changing and Craig's Storm for first and second. Craig's Storm came in third. Interestingly, I also placed a bet for Fight On to come in third, he came in second. If only I'd switched Craig's Storm with Fight On, I would have walked away with some money for the day. That is life.

My friend doesn't bet so I created a fictional betting game with her. She kicked my butt. We both lost money; however, in this fictional world of betting.

Duke Basketball vs. Virginia Tech: 67-55

First off, Duke probably only needs to worry about Maryland right now in terms of winning the ACC regular season. They should be able to beat Virginia. Maybe they lose to Maryland. North Carolina will be a tough game. Carolina won't go down without a fight, but it is in Cameron and Duke should prevail.

As for this game, not pretty. As mentioned, I have this ten minute rule and none of Duke's reserves played more than ten minutes.

Andre Dawkins is getting court time, but that guy now needs to start scoring some baskets to stay on the court. He took five shots. At least for two of those shots he was wide open. It isn't like his teammates aren't looking for him. I've wanted him to get some court time. Now that he is getting time, he better start scoring some points.

I got on Kyle Singler earlier this season for not putting up points. The last couple games I've seen, I now say he's playing like he should be playing. Solid defense and offense.

Nolan Smith needs to get his shooting percentage up.

Brian Zoubek. This guy isn't going to get the points, but he sure gets the rebounds.

An honest Duke fan would have to call this game frustrating. When your top three score 63 of your 67 points? And there were little if no points scored by pounding the ball inside. I know that when watching the Maryland game, it was mentioned that Duke was able to get inside scoring because of matchups. Hey, I think Duke should always try to score inside. Obviously, Zoubek isn't the person, but what about the Plumlee brothers. Just look at what people always say about the Lakers: they should throw in to Gasol. Duke needs an inside threat and there are only a handful of games left to find it before March Madness.

The positives though: a win is a win, Virginia Tech isn't some push over and will get into March Madness, Villanova lost two straight so Duke should move up to fifth.

Stupid Question: When did Singler get that black eye? What's the story behind that?

Charter Cable did a reboot during the last three minutes or so of the game. When the game finally came back on, Virginia Tech was running out the last eight seconds of the game. Technology.

Garbaj Kaetz, Seasons, Schoenberg Knife Fight Ensemble

I had wanted to check out Ives the Band over at Silverlake Lounge, but learned they canceled.

Well, since I was out and about I figured I may as well head somewhere else to check out some music. Echo Curio is always a nice place to head towards so there I went.

First band I saw was called Garbaj Katetz. I probably only heard a couple of their songs.



Next up was Seasons, but only part of the band. This was the most intriguing band of the night for me. Okay, so I only saw "2/5" of the band, but the music was lovely. I'll have to try and catch them another time.

Comment: The keyboardist to the guitarist, "I need to see your hands."

Noticed: One of their friends took out a tambourine. The tambourine had the hands of Jesus on it.







Schoenberg Knife Fight Ensemble was the last band I saw. Just from the name, one would think experimental pounding rock music. I suppose this is what I got. I will say I got into the music. Great set. My one thing, I'm not sure I buy into the lead singer's persona, a 12-year old girl mixed with a bit of a dolt, act. I did find their band attire interesting. A hard rocker. A preppy 80s guy.

Comment one: From one of the band members waiting for the bathroom to open up, talking to his band mates, "You're called Schoenberg Knife Fight? Are you guys being ironic."

Noticed: For many of the songs, the guys in the band played with their eyes closed. After one song, all the cymbals went flying in various directions. During the last song, the keyboardist was pounding away like Schoenberg.

Check this band out. Yes, there is a negative comment above, but that's just an observation on the stage presence. The music rocks.

A Movie Review: The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. I need to admit straight off that I didn't fully understand this movie. I think I understand the basic plots. Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) makes a deal with Mr. Nick (Tom Waits), aka The Devil. The deal is for eternal life as well as the ability to provide individuals with a universe of unlimited imagination. Centuries later, Doctor Parnassus runs into a beautiful young lady. Parnassus and Mr. Nick make a deal: Parnassus will gain his youth back, but if he has a daughter she will be Mr. Nick's at the age of 16. Parnassus' wife gets pregnant at an advanced age and has a daughter. The movie starts with Valentina (Lily Cole) three days away from turning sixteen. Tony (Heath Ledger) also shows up in the movie, rescued by Parnassus' troupe.

SPOILERS, IN A WAY.

I get the idea that Mr. Nick actually likes Parnassus and has no desire to take away his daughter. He instead just wants to cause Parnassus to worry. A little torment is his game.

I'm not sure, but I think in the end Tony is the good guy that helps make sure that Valentina does not become the possession of Mr. Nick.

There are some wonderful visuals here, but then so does 'Lovely Bones'.

What I don't get is: Was this a movie of great brilliance or great disappointment. It is so artfully done I doubt myself and wonder if my confusion regarding this movie is driven by my lack of a liberal arts background. Who knows.

A Movie Review: Crazy Heart

Crazy Heart. A nice understated movie that deals with an over-the-hill country music star, Bad Blake, (Jeff Bridges) and his muse/lover, a young lady named Jean Craddock, (Maggie Gyllenhaal).

ONE MIGHT CONSIDER THESE SPOILERS

The movie opens up with Bad Blake singing at a bowling alley. A let down for someone who used to be much bigger. You figure out rather quickly that he's a chain smoker and an alcholic. In another town, he is asked if he's willing to do an interview with a young reporter, Jean. They hit it off pretty well. And soon fall into a quick romance.

At the same time, his career takes a turn for the better. A musican he mentored, Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell), is starting to turn big -- playing in front of crowds of 12,000 (I believe this is what I heard.) Though Bad Blake feels that Tommy Sweet sold him out, Tommy still has high regards for Bad Blake. Tommy asks Bad Blake to open for him in one of his shows and then asks him to write music for him.

Though his career is picking up again, he still has issues with drinking and smoking. This eventually ends his relationship with Jean, but it also inspires him to turn around his personal life.

This movie kept my attention throughout. Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal are worthy for their Oscar nominations. Obviously, this movie doesn't make Tommy Sweet out to be the bad guy and there is reconciliation between Tommy and Bad Blake. I liked how the movie dealt with their relationship. It didn't go into all the gritty details, but it gave you enough to understand how Bad Blake felt about it all, but also see how Tommy was trying to reach out and help his mentor.

A jogger and a car

I was out walking around town. I came to a crosswalk. The light was green and indicated that pedestrians could walk. I started to cross the street. I noticed a car waiting to turn right. The guy was calmly talking on his phone, via a blue tooth. He didn't look like he was planning on making an immediate right turn. I didn't feel in any danger of getting run over by a driver not paying attention to his surroundings.

Coming towards me, also heading for the crosswalk, was a jogger. As she entered the crosswalk, she shook her fist at the driver. I looked at her thinking, "Why is she doing that? The driver is at a full stop and has been at a full stop since he came to the stoplight." I noticed the driver giving the jogger a bewildered look and I suspect he was telling the person on the other end of the phone what had just occurred.

A funny moment in Los Angeles.

70-ish/80-ish year old guy jogging

I was driving along Glendale Blvd. I saw an elderly guy (I'm thinking 70s, maybe early 80s) running like a mad dog. Now when I'm that old, I hope I'm able to exercise like that.

A Movie Review: Lovely Bones

"Lovely Bones". I enjoyed this movie until it came to the ending. This movie kept my attention. I was drawn to the struggles of the father (Mark Wahlberg). Stanley Tucci (George Harvey) was great as a sexual predator/serial murderer. I couldn’t even tell it was him for awhile. I wish that the Abigail Salmon (Rachel Weisz) character was drawn a bit better since I’m a Rachel Weisz fan. Michael Imperioli played a sympathetic detective who had little to go on, but was more than willing to sympathize with the family.

SPOILERS

I thought this movie was well acted, but my problem was with the ending. I thought it was a big letdown. George Harvey dumps Susie’s body in the sink hole (she’s stuffed inside a security safe.) There are witnesses to this. At the time, the witnesses don’t realize he’s the murderer, but they eventually found out (not in the movie). One of the last scenes is of the sink hole being covered up. Shouldn’t one of the last scenes be of individuals trying to recover the security safe? And as for George Harvey’s death . . . I’m sure it was meant to symbolize something, but I found it a bit unrealistic.

I guess because of my disappointment with the ending, I have to give this movie only a mild recommendation. I was all into this movie. I didn’t even notice the time passing and then the ending just didn’t sit well with me.

Duke Basketball vs. Maryland: 77-56

This game belonged to Duke from about the five minute mark onwards. Midway through the second half, Maryland put together a run with the help of Greivis Vasquez, but Duke eventually turned back the run after Maryland got within ten.

I wouldn't say the game had much suspense. I think one could tell that Duke was going to win this one.

Highlights:

Brian Zoubek, of course. 16 points. 17 rebounds. Has he ever looked better against a quality team? Honestly, since I don't watch all the games I can't answer that, but I would suspect not. It was also great not seeing him get into immediate foul trouble.

Greivis Vasquez got 17 points. I believe he got over half of those when he put together that second half run.

Duke had a solid 8 man rotation for this game. I loved it of course. They even had Ryan Kelly out there for a brief substitution.

I liked the Zoubek/Thomas and Plumlee/Plumlee substitution pattern. I wonder if they'll keep with this. It would seem to make sense to have the brothers out there together.

Jon Scheyer continued his season long spectacular play. I haven't seen all of Duke's games, but I think I've seen enough to say he's the most consistent Duke player this season.

A Movie Review: Edge of Darkness

Edge of Darkness: This is a tense thriller staring Mel Gibson. It revolves around a father (Mel Gibson) who investigates his daughter’s murder. He is a police officer who witnesses his daughter’s murder. Initially, he suspects he is the target, but preliminary investigations soon reveal that his daughter was the target. I’d recommend seeing this movie, but I do have one complaint: due to the East Coast accents, I had a hard time understanding what the characters were saying. I might recommend to those of us living on the West Coast to wait for the DVD/Blu-Ray, making sure to select the subtitle option.

A Movie Review: Couples Retreat

Couples Retreat: This is one of those whatever movies. Not horrid, but not good enough to spend the time to watch. The movie is about four couples who head off to a marriage therapy island called ‘Eden.’ One couple’s marriage is falling apart, because of the pressures related to their inability to conceive a child (and the fact that the husband is super anal). A second couple is straying, but is sticking with their marriage probably out of comfort. A third feels like they have a perfect marriage. The final couple is more of a fling where an older guy’s wife has left him and he’s now dating a 20 year-old. The first couple convinces the others to join them due to the fact that there is a group discount. Once on the island, relationship are dissected, awkward situations develop and all ends happily. Three of the four couples aren’t all that believable. The one couple that seems to have some nice chemistry is Dave (Vince Vaughn) and Ronnie (Malin Akerman).

A Movie Review: Young @ Heart

Young @ Heart: An interesting documentary about folks 70 plus who sing rock songs on stage. They appear to be a solid audience draw, filling up auditoriums that fit a couple thousand. A handful of the individuals in the documentary are close to death. If one is close to death, this seems like a great way to leave this world. There are in fact a couple deaths in the movie. There are also a couple examples of individuals who are gravely ill who stay with the group no matter the health consequences.

One small thing: if you listen to the music, you know who is going to die.

Dead Rose Beauty and Hydrovibe @ Whisky a Go Go

More to come on intraffik.com so I'll just leave you with some photos.

Hydrovibe



Dead Rose Beauty

Note: The hottest violinist west of the Mississippi.

Love the mirror.

Duke Basketball vs. Carolina: 64-54

I've missed some of the recent Duke basketball games, but I wasn't going to miss Duke vs. Carolina.

The Duke vs. Carolina game (64-54 Duke) was hardly a classic. Duke shot 31%. Carolina shot 35%. The reason Duke won was because they shot so much better from the three point strip. Even the free throw percentages were a bit low with Duke at 61% and Carolina at 56%.

It was admittedly an intense game, as it should be, but frustrating, as well. Duke should have blown Carolina out of the water, but couldn’t. In the first half, Duke couldn’t score within ten feet of the basket. Nearly all their baskets came from three point land. When they did attempt to shoot near the rim, Carolina blocked shot after shot. I’ll have to say that Carolina’s shot blocking was an amazing sight to see.

Perhaps in the last ten minutes of the game, Duke was finally able to score some points in the paint. This is how they finally pulled away.

My notes:

Hopefully, Lance Thomas isn’t hurt too badly. I could have sworn I heard the guys on ESPN call him Deon Thompson.

I wish Duke could pound the ball inside more often.

It was nice to see Andre Dawkins play ten minutes – even though he didn’t have much of an impact on the game.

I suspect Carolina will be back next season. I’d rather see a great Carolina team versus a bad Carolina team.

Vas Defrans, Tommy Peacock, Automatique and The Mulhollands at The Viper Room

I went to the Viper Room recently. More to come on intraffik.com later so for now here are some photos.

Vas Defrans



Tommy Peacock

Automatique

The Mulhollands