New Born Authority at Club Moscow: Photo Series

New Born Authority

New Born Authority at Club Moscow: Photo Series

New Born Authority

New Born Authority at Club Moscow: Photo Series

New Born Authority

Beverly Hills Observation

Hey, is Beverly Hills all that different from the rest of Los Angeles?  Driving near Rodeo Dr, I couldn't help but notice that within walking distance of that famed street is a Chipotle, Subway and a Rite Aid.  Yeah, I'd pretty much rather have a Chipotle burrito versus a burrito from some high end Mexican restaurant.  As for Subway, you can probably find better sandwiches out there; however . . . I did drive past a couple Subway trucks while heading to work this morning and I sure did find myself suddenly craving a Subway sandwich (maybe it has to do with the fact that I have a couple Subway gift cards lying around my home).

Car Drivers: What I hate

I've had to do more surface road driving recently than normal.

I'm not saying I'm the best driver around.  I'm not.  I've nearly caused an accident or two or more in my lifetime, but here are some things that just irritate me about other drivers.

1.  The driver who switches lanes, because s/he thinks your lane is faster.  Then s/he realizes it isn't and switches back to their lane within a split second.

2.  The driver who can't decide what to do so drives in the middle of two lanes, causing a nice little traffic jam.

3.  The driver who decides to make a left turn when there isn't a left turn lane.  Now sometimes you need to do this, but specifically the driver who does this when s/he could have used a left turn lane at the previous cross street or could just drive up to the next street which also has a left turn lane.

4.  The driver who thinks cutting into the queue of a left turn lane is perfectly fine when everyone has already had to deal with one red light and are just hoping to make a left turn before having to wait through a second red light.

5.  The driver who decides to make a left turn when signs specifically state you're not to make a left hand turn between the hours of 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. -- and it is only 6:35 p.m. and so it isn't like one of those boarder line situations where perhaps it is 6:57 p.m.

Death around a School

So my path home from work takes me past Joseph Le Conte Middle School.  A couple weeks back I noticed memorial of flowers and other items near the steps of the school.  It was painful driving past this on a regular basis.  One evening I noticed a family at the site.  One member of the family looked no older than five.  I wondered if they were the family that lost a son/daughter/brother/sister.  A couple days later, I saw someone getting out of a car.  She went to the memorial and started to gather everything up.  I kind of wanted to stop and tell the woman how sorry I was for her loss.

 

A Movie Review: Non-Stop

Non-Stop. I really enjoyed this movie.  I think over-all it is well constructed.  My perhaps one big issue is that I doubt the premise of this movie is even possible.  Luckily, the reason how this plane ultimately ends up in its predicament isn't revealed until later in the movie once you're already engaged with it.

And in many ways, this movie is better than Taken 2.  So let's call this movie Taken 4.  We have Taken, Taken 2, Unknown and Non-Stop.  

I'm up on Intraffik: Cillie Barnes, The Shakers, Jordan Harris and Christie Bradley

I'm up on Intraffik: Cillie Barnes, The Shakers, Jordan Harris and Christie Bradley.

My March Madness bracket

A bit late in posting my bracket.

Round 2 Winners

South: 

Florida
Pittsburgh
VCU
UCLA
New Mexico
Kansas

East: 

Virginia
Memphis
Harvard
Michigan St.
N. Carolina
Iowa St.
Connecticut
Villanova

West:

Arizona
Oklahoma St.
North Dakota St.
New Mexico St.
Baylor
Creighton
Oregon
Wisconsin

Midwest:

Wichita St.
Kentucky
N.C. State
Louisville
Tennessee
Duke
Arizona St.
Michigan

Round 3 Winners

South:

Florida
UCLA
Syracuse
Kansas

East:

Virginia
Michigan St.
Iowa St.
Villanova

West:

Arizona
North Dakota St.
Creighton
Wisconsin

Midwest:

Wichita St.
Louisville
Duke
Michigan

Sweet 16 Winners

South:

Florida
Kansas

East:

Michigan St.
Iowa St.

West:

Arizona
Wisconsin

Midwest:

Louisville
Duke

Elite 8 Winners

Florida
Michigan St.
Arizona
Louisville

Final 4 Winners

Florida
Louisville

National Champion

Florida

Cal Poly and Duke Basketball: March Madness

Friday was a painful day.  Both my teams went under.  I didn't see either game as they played while I was at work, but I did keep track via ESPN.com.

The Cal Poly outcome was a forgone conclusion.  I personally don't believe Wichita St. is going to win March Madness (I have Florida winning it all), but that doesn't mean they aren't an elite team.  Within the first few minutes of the game as the scores updated, it was apparent that Cal Poly was toast.  It seemed like a very long period of time went by while they were stuck at 5.

As for Duke, I threw in the towel as the clock was at 5 minutes in the 2nd half.  I've seen this play out.  As folks have mentioned, Duke doesn't have "It."  My personal definition of "It."  They don't know how to stop the other team.  "It" is also when Andre Dawkins isn't able to hit the threes.  "It" is when their offense doesn't seem to rise to the occasion.

Next year:  hopefully for both teams.  Duke returning is almost a guarantee.  Cal Poly, let's hope I don't have to wait another 20 years.

Cal Poly Basketball vs. Texas Southern: 81-69

First time ever in March Madness.  I had to watch this on DVR as I was at work when it was being played. What a thrill.

Best basket of the game:   I believe it was Dave Nwaba who made the shot driving down the baseline and doing a slam dunk.  He just zipped by the clueless Texas Southern defense.

As for Texas Southern, it was like watching a grade school game where all the players on a team pass it to the obviously superior athlete and then kind of do nothing else.  Aaric Murray scored 38 points. Let's put that another way:  55% of their points.

Can Cal Poly defeat Wichita St over the next couple hours?  Sure, if Wichita St is so so very rusty after a couple weeks off.

A Movie Review: Captain Blood

Captain Blood. I've been watching some older movies recently.  I was scanning through TCM and saw that Captain Blood was being shown.  I haven't seen this movie in probably over a decade.  I decided to catch it again.  I remember just loving this movie when I was young.

What did I think about it on a re-watch.  During the last few minutes of this movie, I remember thinking:  I know exactly how it is going to end and I can't wait to see the final moments.

I have to admit that now with CGI the various action sequences in Captain Blood kind of make you giggle, but putting that aside this movie is a fun romp.  Errol Flynn does have a smooth, charismatic style.  

And is there a major blunder in this film?  I swear that when Captain Blood takes on fellow pirate Levasseur that you a) see Levasseur open his eyes after he is killed and b) that the same scene of the ocean waters coming over Levasseur is repeated twice.  I looked this up on IMDB and a mention of Levasseur's eyes blinking is listed as a mistake.

Eagle Rock Gospel Singers at The Satellite

Eagle Rock Gospel Singers. We're hitting the Easter season.  What better way to spend it, but to listen to some gospel music on a Monday night.

Chantal Claret at The Satellite

Chantal Claret. For her second song, she gathered us all together into a circle on the floor and sang her song in the middle of it all. Cool.

As her set was ending, I couldn't help but think I was listening to The Dollyrots.  Chantal's energy is infectious.

Duke Basketball vs. Virginia: 63-72

First basket for Duke was a Rodney Hood assist to Amile Jefferson.  After this, Duke just couldn't get their shots to fall even though many of them seemed makeable.  Then Rasheed Sulaimon dished to Jefferson for another score.  Jefferson had the first four points for Duke.

As I was watching the first few minutes of the game, I was thinking:  who's the better three point team, Duke or Virginia?  It was obviously Virginia in the 1st half as Duke's offense looked horrible.

It looked like Jabari Parker had enough at around the 12 minute mark when it looked like he was determined to get to the basket no matter who was in his way.  On the other hand, I'm rather sure that during one series Parker's Achilles's Heel (defense) resulted in Jefferson getting his first foul.

The reason why Virginia looked like the better three point team is because they actually were shooting threes.  Duke finally went for a couple threes around the 8:50 mark when Parker and Hood took shots.  Parker missed.  The ball found its way over to Hood who hit his.

When Duke had a score of 12, Jefferson had half of those points.

Around the 5:30 mark, Cook had the Duke fans jumping.  Then Hood made a defensive play that got everyone jumping even more.  They were still down 14-17 at that point.

Andre Dawkins who was missing in the previous game against NC State, came in after Parker got his 2nd foul.  He immediately turned over the ball, but made up for it in the next series by hitting a three.

The half ended with Duke down 25-28.

The question of the first half was:  How did Coach K get his technical foul.  He got it by throwing his marker at his bench.  Okay . . .

In the 2nd half, Jefferson started the scoring again by hitting one of two free throws.  Hmm.

Parker continued a no-matter-what-take-it-to-the-defense attitude in the 2nd half.  His thought process, I'm sure was, "I'm just going to find my way into the paint."

Dawkins came into the game again when Sulaimon got into foul trouble.  He made a three that got a beautiful bounce.

Score of the game for Duke came when Hood did a nice little pass to Jefferson.  Initially, it looked like a Hood air ball, but my DVR re-look seems to indicate to me that Hood did a nice little pass to Jefferson.  I wonder if he got an assist for that.

During the 2nd half, I think the announcers were confused.  They kept saying Duke was taking the lead for the first time since up 2-0.  Or was that my imagination?  I'm pretty sure Duke was up a handful of times during the first ten minutes of the 2nd half by 1 or 2 points.

Random thought that hit me in the 2nd half:  Is Virginia known as an offensive team?  How are they getting Duke players in foul trouble?

I came to the conclusion that Duke wasn't going to win this game around the 5:30 mark.  I don't know if it is me just being negative or if I just get this sense sometimes that the Duke players are just being over-whelmed at times.  Duke just seemed to be so close at times to pulling away, but Virginia always had an answer.  It just seems that when the Duke players aren't able to bend a team's will, they have a problem gutting it out in the last couple minutes of a game.

With 2 minutes left, Duke started to foul.  That seemed to make sense as Virginia's methodical offense and their stiff defense meant there were limited number of plays left in the game.

Duke had a late gasp when Dawkins made a miracle shot, but they couldn't build on it.

Cal Poly SLO Basketball vs. Cal State Northridge: 61-59

I don't watch Cal Poly basketball, but that doesn't mean I don't keep track of their season.  They played a tough non-conference schedule going up against Arizona, Oregon, Pittsburgh and Stanford.  This seemed to me that there was some confidence that the team had potential and that they could make a solid run in the conference (or perhaps I was thinking too much about horse racing and how a trainer might put their horse up against the top horses versus $8,000 claiming horses).  The conference season started off well enough and then the wheels seemed to fall apart.

The game started and I was excited.  The horrible season was starting to look like a miracle run to March Madness.  Cal Poly  had already beaten the number 1 and 2 teams of the conference:  UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine.  And looking at the schedule, they'd  beaten Cal State Northridge twice -- though I always believe that it is always hard to beat a similarly talented team three straight.

As the game started, the announcers said defense was Cal Poly's strength.  And CSN quickly scored 4 points on that defense.  In response, CP kept on missing shots.  The 3s just wouldn't drop.  At the 16 minute mark, CP didn't look all that hot.  At the 14:30-ish mark, CP was down 15-5.  This was not looking good.  Their defense was not keeping the game close and their offense couldn't make a shot.  CP fell behind 21-10 before finally making some shots.  Their defense also started to look better and they ended up down just 29-25 at the half.

CP started the 2nd half scoring the first points and then tied it around the 18:50 mark and taking the lead at 18:30.  For awhile after that, both teams were missing shots.  Then Chris Eversley went for a dunk and I was thinking, this is the moment that CP pulls away; however, he got a technical foul and I was saying, "Why did you act that way?"

At the 13:11 mark, I think Brian Bennett made the shot of the game.  A nice fake and then the basket.  (Okay, Ridge Shipley's final three was awesome, but I think Brian Bennett's shot was just so classic.)

Come around the 7:30 mark, it really felt like CSN was going to start pulling away.  They were just going to the rim and scoring.  Then Ridge Shipley took over, hitting 3s.  The march towards victory was put into question during the 3 minute mark down to the 2 minute mark when CP made some crazy fouls that looked like they were playing tackle football, but Shipley made a final three.  A free throw at the end locked it down.

Question:  The final CP free throw missed at the 4 second mark.  Why didn't CSN call a quick timeout?  Four seconds is a decent amount of time.  A nice play could have been drawn up.  Yes, they'd need to go down the court, but I'd think you'd want to set up a play.

Question 2:  The announcers said that CSN has three top transfers coming into the program next year.  Now why would anyone want to live around Northridge?

Note:  It might be my imagination, but it seemed that there were more CP fans in the crowd.  While watching on television, the crowd looking rather sparse, but it did seem like more CP colors could be seen in the crowd.  Also, it seemed like I heard more cheering for CP.  I could be wrong.  I kind of wish I'd made the 1:30 hour Saturday afternoon drive down to Orange County.  On the other hand . . . I just didn't want to deal with bumper to bumper traffic on the 5 freeway.

I am happy that Cal Poly is going to the dance.  On the other hand, I do have to admit it is a little awkward that they're going to the dance with a 13-19 record.

Duke Basketball vs. NC State: 75-67

The game started out with Jabari Parker scoring first.  A little later Rasheed Sulaimon missed a 3, but he was soon going to go on a tear -- except on the free throw line.

Of course, Parker knows how to score, but teams apparently know how to score off him as NC State scored their first four points against him.

Sulaimon hit his next 3 and his point scoring started.

Matt Jones and Josh Hairston entered the game and they quickly hooked up for a score with Jones passing it into Hairston at around the ten minute mark.

And then within seconds, Hairston got his first foul.

Rodney Hood was playing some tough defense on ACC Player of the Year T.J. Warren to prevent him from getting the ball with 6 minute left in the 1st half.  He got called for the foul after one too many bumps.

As the second half started, I couldn't help but notice how Sulaimon was taking it to the rim.  I'm sure this is how the coaches felt about Duke's offense abilities as the season was starting:  Parker, Hood and Sulaimon.  You can't double team all three at once.

At the 15 minute mark, Parker got a loose ball and took it in for the monster jam of the game and that was it.  Yeah, the game was still close at that point, but that started Duke's run as Duke slowly pulled away over the next two minutes.  Parker's monster jam inspired some top notch defense -- or perhaps NC State's shooting percentage was just reverting back to the norm (they shot like 65%+ in the first half.)

I could help but wonder in the 2nd half:  Where is Andre Dawkins?  He usually gets 7 to 10 minutes a game.

How was it that Sulaimon didn't have 30 in this game?  In fact, he would have been the top scorer of the game if he could have hit his free throws.  I believe he missed five straight.

With 4 minutes left in the game, the teams started to look tired.

The Duke coaches must have noticed how NC State was scoring on Parker during the first few minutes of the game, because they put him on the bench for defensive purposes with 2:30-ish left in the game.  He came back into the game at the right time.  Hood got fouled and miss the first of a 1 and 1.  Parker grabbed the rebound and scored.  Duke was up by 10.

The game got a little closer as the clock ran down, but it wasn't ever in doubt.  The one problem that could hurt come March Madness was that Duke just couldn't deal with the full court press (nothing new there).  Quinn Cook was getting trapped.  Hood couldn't get the ball inbounds.

NC State had a bit of a communication problem during the closing 2 minutes.  NC State Ralston Turner must not have been listening during a time-out, because he fouled Sulaimon with about 12 seconds left on the possession clock.  Of course, Sulaimon missed the first -- but made the second.  Turner went to the bench and got an earful.

Opinion on Parker vs. Hood.  Parker is better in the paint when someone passes the ball into him.  Hood is better in the paint in terms of being able to drive.

Dwntwn photo

Dwntwn. I still love that Dwntwn residency. In fact, I wish they'd do another residency.

Dream: a couple friends

In reality, I got a text message from a friend before going to bed.  She mentioned that she and her husband were in town and wanted to know if I wanted to meet up for dinner.

How did my dream go?  I met up with her husband.  He mentioned that he was going to live in Los Angeles and his wife was going to be staying up in San Francisco for awhile and would join him at a later date.

Interesting, as in reality, they used to live in Los Angeles and then he got a job in San Francisco.  He'd have to fly back and forth on the weekends.  Eventually, she also moved up to San Francisco.

The Elovay at Silverlake Lounge

The Elovay.  Diverse in ethnicity.  Diverse in influences.

The Janks at The Viper Room

The Janks.  Brothers who jam.

Little Wild at The Viper Room

Little Wild. I walked in a little late during their set.  It took but a second to get into their set.

Busy Living at The Satellite

Busy Living equals energetic music.

Duke Basketball vs. North Carolina: 93-81

It was Senior Night with Josh Hairston, Andre Dawkins and Tyler Thorton (he usually starts) getting the starts. 

In the early going, Rodney Hood scored the points with help from Dawkins.  Meanwhile, Jabari Parker was grabbing the rebounds.

Interesting Note 1:  Duke did a wholesale substitution -- twice.  Around the 17 and 14 minute marks.  The announcers said it was due to fatigue concerns.  I also wonder if it was a statement regarding the fact that they're a deep team.

Interesting Note 2:  NFL's Roger Goodell/Tony Romo were in the house.

Carolina scored early points by hitting Duke's interior.  It wasn't looking solid for Duke's interior defense though Duke did pull to a solid early lead.

Duke's energy appeared to decline at the 9 minute mark and with that their defensive intensity.  Carolina started to inch closer.  

Interesting Note 3:  Hairston picks up fouls in bunches.

Parker in the first half was making some crazy acrobatic shots. 

Interesting Note 4:  Thorton plays solid defense except when he makes silly fouls.

The 2nd half seemed to go like this on the Duke scoring end:  Hood for a bunch.  Parker for a bunch.  Hood for a bunch.

Best jam:  Amile Jefferson stealing the ball and going for the dunk.

Why doesn't Rasheed Sulaimon go for open threes?  He passed on a couple open shots in the 2nd half, but when the shot clock was running down in one series he hit one.  He has such a sweet stroke.

Duke had like 3 fouls in 1 minute at one point.

Interesting Note 5:  I've always thought that Duke has really bad interior defense.  But in this game, Carolina looked far worse.

Thorton fouled out on a three pointer by Marcus Paige, who then made it a 4-point play.  Thorton and his silly fouls.

Parker and Hood led this team, but they did create some concern when Parker then Hood made poor decisions on the offensive series.  Even the greats make the occasional bad decisions.

As Carolina started to get desperate, Carolina started to do full court pass and Duke fell apart for a couple series.

At the two minute mark, Carolina fouled like crazy and one had to wonder if they were fouling too soon.  They fouled Jefferson at one point.  I guess that was a smart one, but not the earlier Quinn Cook fouls.  Of course, Jefferson just made the first one, but Parker got the rebound on the miss. 

Carolina had a chance to score after a bad Duke pass with around 1:20 to play and for some reason J.P. Tokoto went for some crazy shot.

Interesting Note 6:  Why can't Duke break a full court press?

Though Parker and Hood scored more then half the points, I am happy that Cook and Sulaimon scored double digits.  Who knows when you might need a third or fourth person to step up and score.

Thought:  I wish Carolina was playing with a full team.  Kennedy Meeks was playing sick.  James Michael McAdoo got into quick foul trouble.  It may have made it a more intense game.  Carolina did make some runs, but Duke pulled away in the 2nd half and even though the score closed a little you sort of knew that unless Duke fell apart that they had it with 4 minutes left to play.

Random Los Angeles Observation: Los Feliz Blvd Update

I think only 2 days this week saw cars parked alongside Los Feliz Blvd during morning rush hour.

Maybe a memo went out to apartment renters, because last week I saw tow trucks on two separate mornings.  Up to that point, I had not seen any tow trucks though I'd seen the parking police.  (I've been taking this route to work for the last 6 weeks or so.)  

Just as to why I find this interesting:  

1.  That section and side of Los Feliz Blvd is 100% residential. 

 

2.  Since it is residential, everyone should know that you can't park on that side of the street in the mornings.  It isn't like someone is going to a random part of town and they fail to properly read the parking signs.

3.  The no parking is Mon-Fri, so it isn't someone occasionally forgetting that a specific day is street cleaning day.

4.  Why would you want to wake up in the morning, needing to go to work and find out that your car has been towed?

FIM at The Satellite

FIM. They call their music genre Space Fracking.  Okay, it makes sense to me.  Their music jumps all over the place and honestly seems like it could be from outer space.  And it all works in a fun way.

What I enjoyed about Oscars 2014

Did Jennifer Lawrence beg Pharrell Williams to pass her by as he encouraged various stars to dance with him?

I loved how one of the Oscar winners' (I think it was a winner of a short) hands were just shaking like mad as he was reading his speech.  Hey, I'd be one nervous dude winning an award surrounded by far more famous people.

I loved how Jared Leto looked into the camera as he was grabbing a slice of pizza and said something such as, "It's for my mother."  I did a little research on this.  It appears Jared is a vegan and so perhaps this message was for his vegan fans who would have had some serious questions for him.

It was cool how Brad Pitt was helping hand out paper plates.

I liked Matthew McConaughey's rambling acceptance speech.

I loved the selfie photo moment.

My one disappointment:  I really wished The Wolf of Wall Street had won best picture.

My Fall/Winter 2014 movie rankings

Best Picture Nomination Worthy

The Wolf of Wall Street
American Hustle
Her
Saving Mr. Banks
Inside Llewyn Davis
All Is Lost

Just Short of a Nomination

August:  Osage County
Captain Phillips

Solid

Nebraska
Rush
Gravity
About Time
Dallas Buyers Club

Mixed Feelings

12 Years a Slave
The Hunger Games:  Catching Fire

Waste

Anchorman 2
The Hobbit:  The Desolation of Smaug

A Movie Review: American Hustle

American Hustle. Jennifer Lawrence is the comic relief in a very funny movie. Need I say more?  Okay, maybe a little more.  Everyone does a great job acting in this movie -- not just Lawrence -- and you'll find yourself laughing throughout.

A Movie Review: Her

Her. We’re off in the not too distant future. What first caught my eye wasn’t how wonderful this movie is, but the set design. The not too distant future has us returning back to the style from the 1950s. Interesting. What is more interesting is this quirky love story that in the back of your mind you know might someday become reality.

Duke basketball vs. Virginia Tech: 66-48

Duke came out intense on defense in this game.  It took a few seconds for Duke's offense to kick in, but as soon as it did, they quickly jumped out to a 24-4 lead.  Then Virginia Tech slowly made a game of it even though in the end Duke won by 18.

I guess my question while watching the game was:  did they just get bored knowing within minutes that Virginia Tech was no match for them or did they get tired after playing playing 5 games in 11 days.  I suppose the answer would be playing 5 games in 11 days resulting in Virginia Tech keeping the game close until the end.  On the other hand, Duke came out with such intensity on defense that I think they might have just gotten bored.