I couldn’t help but notice that my top read blog over the last month is a really quick blog I wrote up on January 31st about the Toonerville gang. A couple days before the 31st, I read an article in the Glendale News-Press about an injunction against the Toonerville gang. While walking through Palmer Park on the 31st, I noticed that the gang had spray painted their gang name on the wall surrounding the basketball court. When I got home, I wrote up that quick blog. When I first posted the blog, I got a couple hits (my blog is not read by many) but over the last week this particular blog has become more popular. So being curious about why my Toonerville gang blog was getting so many hits considering that I mostly blog about music, movies, sports and the economy; I decided to google “Toonerville gang.” (Side comment: another of my gang blogs has also gotten some hits recently.)
This LA Weekly article popped up (“Silver Lake Anxiety Attack: The Rowena Avenue Crime Wave,” Joe Donnelly, February 10, 2009): A spate of brutal robberies has cast a pall to match the gloomy weather and dire economy over the normally chirpy neighborhoods of Silver Lake and Echo Park . . . By early last week, news of the attacks in areas bordered by Sunset and Glendale boulevards to the north and east and Hyperion and Rowena avenues to the west and south had spread through the close-knit community . . . Five assaults occurred between December 30 and January 8, and then five more between January 21 and 31 . . . Were they gang initiations? Is the notorious Toonerville gang, not seen this far south for years, now sending recruits into more gentrified territory, as the pickings get slim north of Riverside Drive? Or are gangs simply resorting to robbery as their main source of income dries up, because, let’s face it, who can afford to buy drugs these days?
My comment: “Pickings get slim north of Riverside Drive?” I think the writer just tossed this sentence in, but I wonder if there is some truth to this statement. Glendale is cracking down on the gang. (I really do think my blog about the Tonnerville gang giving the Glendale the middle finger is a true statement.) Perhaps the Toonerville gang is shifting away from South Glendale and moving further into Los Angeles. Glendale police don’t mess around. My personal opinion is that they’re a bit too aggressive; which probably works well when dealing with gangs, but not so well with law abiding citizens.
I also did a search on the LA Times website and the following popped up (“L.A. gang leader sentenced to death,” Jack Leonard, January 10, 2009): For years, authorities say, [Timothy Joseph] McGhee waged a campaign of terror in the northeastern part of Los Angeles. A shot-caller for a long-entrenched gang, he hunted rivals but sometimes killed indiscriminately, boasting in rap lyrics about the pleasure he felt in taking life. He taunted law enforcement and led a sophisticated ambush that ensnared two Los Angeles Police Department officers in a barrage of gunfire. While locked up, he incited jail riots and assaulted guards . . . On Friday . . . Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry sentenced him to death for the murder of three people . . . Police and prosecutors described McGhee as a thrill killer who was among the most feared members of the Toonerville gang, which was formed in the 1950s and claims as its turf a largely middle class area north of Los Feliz Boulevard between San Fernando Road and the Los Angeles River.
My comment: I actually didn’t realize all this stuff was going down. These two articles connect some dots for me. Recently, I”ve talked to some friends who live in the area outlined by Joe Donnelly. One (lives on the Sunset side) mentioned to me about some robberies and an attempted rape in the area. Another (lives on the Rowena side) mentioned receiving a flier about the situation. All of us living in the Toonerville territory need to be careful out there.
My comment 2: Regarding my previous blog about Palmer Park graffiti, the graffiti was removed long ago.
Final note: It is likely that not all these attacks mentioned in the LA Weekly article are perpetrated by the Toonerville gang.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
IO Echo @ the Roxy
General
IO Echo @ the The Roxy. The previous band encouraged the audience to come up to the front of the stage at least three different times. There was no need for IO Echo to do the same as the audience was up front from the beginning. Unlike my last
visit at The Echoplex, it didn’t take me awhile to get into their set. From the start, I was rather into the music. (Note: in my blog regarding to Echoplex set, I’d mentioned that a longer format of the blog would appear on a webzine at some point. Well, it should be up rather soon.) I love the song “Addicted.” It has that great opening beat, with IO’s syncopated vocals. I am; however, most fascinated with the song “I am on Fire.” I love how the song has an old-fashion creepy nightmare edge for a minute and then just explodes with a screaming rant, “I’m on Fire.” I can’t help it, this song is fascinating. It is a day later and the “I’m on Fire” scream is stuck in my head.
Some comments made during the show
“We’re going on tour with OK Go, we’re returning April 4th with a show with Autolux – in San Diego. We can all take a road trip down there.”
“Can you turn down the lights, we’re a moody group.”
“Thank you.”
Some notes from the night
For a band that calls itself moody, lead singer IO smiles a lot. She smiles at the end of certain songs. I think when she realizes that her group just gave a great performance of a specific song, she can’t help but crack a smile.
There were a couple moments where IO picked up her music stand like a princess warrior, carrying it around like a spear in search of music demons.
Funny Face. Audrey Hepburn. Interpretative dance in Paris. That’s what popped into my head while watching IO dancing around the stage. When watching bands, I occasionally start spacing out with a thought, “What does this band remind me of?” Well, Audrey Hepburn and the Paris bar in Funny Face popped into my mind. There were moments during musical bridges that IO was just dancing around in mindless fun and one couldn’t help but want to join her on stage, bouncing around with her.
There was a group of individuals dancing in the middle of the Roxy floor.
It was rather funny seeing IO crawling underneath the legs of the guitarist.
Rant on the Roxy
IO Echo @ the The Roxy. The previous band encouraged the audience to come up to the front of the stage at least three different times. There was no need for IO Echo to do the same as the audience was up front from the beginning. Unlike my last
visit at The Echoplex, it didn’t take me awhile to get into their set. From the start, I was rather into the music. (Note: in my blog regarding to Echoplex set, I’d mentioned that a longer format of the blog would appear on a webzine at some point. Well, it should be up rather soon.) I love the song “Addicted.” It has that great opening beat, with IO’s syncopated vocals. I am; however, most fascinated with the song “I am on Fire.” I love how the song has an old-fashion creepy nightmare edge for a minute and then just explodes with a screaming rant, “I’m on Fire.” I can’t help it, this song is fascinating. It is a day later and the “I’m on Fire” scream is stuck in my head.Some comments made during the show
“We’re going on tour with OK Go, we’re returning April 4th with a show with Autolux – in San Diego. We can all take a road trip down there.”
“Can you turn down the lights, we’re a moody group.”
“Thank you.”
Some notes from the night
For a band that calls itself moody, lead singer IO smiles a lot. She smiles at the end of certain songs. I think when she realizes that her group just gave a great performance of a specific song, she can’t help but crack a smile.
There were a couple moments where IO picked up her music stand like a princess warrior, carrying it around like a spear in search of music demons.
Funny Face. Audrey Hepburn. Interpretative dance in Paris. That’s what popped into my head while watching IO dancing around the stage. When watching bands, I occasionally start spacing out with a thought, “What does this band remind me of?” Well, Audrey Hepburn and the Paris bar in Funny Face popped into my mind. There were moments during musical bridges that IO was just dancing around in mindless fun and one couldn’t help but want to join her on stage, bouncing around with her.
There was a group of individuals dancing in the middle of the Roxy floor.
It was rather funny seeing IO crawling underneath the legs of the guitarist.
Rant on the Roxy
P.S. I must say this: what’s up with the Roxy’s pricing? On their website it said $10 for admission, but when I got to the box office it was noted at $11.50. Why advertise $10 and then jump it up $1.50? Sorry, that is just unnecessary. And who decided pricing in $0.50 increments for a music venue? Why not go with $11 or $12?
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
My fall-winter movie ranking
Yes, it is raining, we can go to the movies
Rachel Getting Married. Brilliant. I know some people had problems with the long drawn out scenes such as the dish washer scene, but I loved it all.
Doubt. Not only a movie that makes you think, but engaging, as well.
Gran Torino. Dirty Harry now retired.
Role Models. Just so wrong, just so funny.
Revolutionary Road. Depressing to the core and brilliant for it.
The Wrestler. Emotional connections.
Slumdog Millionaire. I see it as over-rated, but still a good film.
Yes Man. A love story to eastside Los Angeles.
Well, it is raining, so let’s go to the movies
Quantum of Solace. James Bond on adrenaline.
Eagle Eye. You’re always watched.
Let the Right One In. A very ambiguous movie. A movie that vampire fans should see.
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. Perhaps I saw it on the right day, but I liked this prequel.
The Reader. Not so much a brilliant story, but a thought provoker.
Frost/Nixon. An interesting history lesson.
Taken. A good action flick for the winter months – if seen in the summer would get ranked lower.
Valkyrie. Another interesting history lesson. Tom Cruise is perhaps getting his mojo back.
This must be Seattle, where’s the sun
Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Bored to death. How did this get nominated for Best Picture?
Rachel Getting Married. Brilliant. I know some people had problems with the long drawn out scenes such as the dish washer scene, but I loved it all.
Doubt. Not only a movie that makes you think, but engaging, as well.
Gran Torino. Dirty Harry now retired.
Role Models. Just so wrong, just so funny.
Revolutionary Road. Depressing to the core and brilliant for it.
The Wrestler. Emotional connections.
Slumdog Millionaire. I see it as over-rated, but still a good film.
Yes Man. A love story to eastside Los Angeles.
Well, it is raining, so let’s go to the movies
Quantum of Solace. James Bond on adrenaline.
Eagle Eye. You’re always watched.
Let the Right One In. A very ambiguous movie. A movie that vampire fans should see.
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. Perhaps I saw it on the right day, but I liked this prequel.
The Reader. Not so much a brilliant story, but a thought provoker.
Frost/Nixon. An interesting history lesson.
Taken. A good action flick for the winter months – if seen in the summer would get ranked lower.
Valkyrie. Another interesting history lesson. Tom Cruise is perhaps getting his mojo back.
This must be Seattle, where’s the sun
Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Bored to death. How did this get nominated for Best Picture?
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Dre Day Celebration at Blue Star Cafe
It was the Third Annual Dre Day Celebration at the Blue Star Cafe. The Blue Star café resides right next to a scrap metal business. I’ve gone to the Blue Star a handful of times; however, I’m not sure how well known this location is so I’ll provide some details. The Blue Star is off the 10 freeway. It is located at 2200 East 15th Street. This location is actually just north of the city of Vernon. I’ve never eaten at this location, but a nice review can be found at the Los Angeles Times website. It is a small sized café with a nice patio area (I believe the patio area is larger than the dining area of the café). The patio area is used for the shows. During the shows, they actually provide free hamburgers (though a donation is requested.)
The first band up for the night was Stab City. They did a trio of Dre covers.
Interesting note is that the drummer led out in the cover songs. Perhaps the three of them decided that he was the best rapper of the group? For the night, in honor of Dre, they called themselves 187. After the covers, they did a handful of their own songs, the drummer back doing backup vocals. The drummer had the words Deez Nuts felt penned across his stomach. The bass player had a Mario Brothers t-shirt on.
After their set finished, there was the night’s contest, which was who-could-finish-two-forties-the-quickest. Personally, I don’t think I even drink forty ounces of water a day so drinking two forties seemed like a challenge. There were two contestants, one new while another was a repeat. The 2008 winner declined to defend his title so the
repeat was the loser from last year. He was challenged by a young lady. Her friends yelled out for her not to do it, but she went for it anyways. Joe Dana, who was the master of ceremonies, insisted on knowing that each of the contestants had a ride home. The two forties were then duck taped to each hand (which meant they better have used the bathroom before hand). Meanwhile, Horace Weintraub was setting up. 3-D glasses were passed out. They were the 3-D glasses used for the Super Bowl’s Monsters versus Aliens commercial. It was yelled out that Horace Weintraub would be in 3-D. Actually, I think I only saw one person wearing them during the set. Horace Weintraub is a three piece band. Two vocalists with an electronica keyboardist and flashing lights. Back to the drinking contest, the young lady finished her first forty and the duck tape was taken off her right hand. The two time competitor of this event was taking a different course of action. He was drinking out of both bottles. So at this point, it was about even.
During the Horace Weintraub set, I attempted to photograph the young lady in the band (I took a handful of photos of her, but this is in regards to one specific shot attempt). She actually gave a rather sexy pose, but just as I was about to shoot the photo a friend of hers interfered with my shot by sticking out her right arm. Oh well, photo ruined. The singer gave me a shrug and on they went. Later, a couple other young ladies went on stage (one being the arm lady) and they dance and sang to the music. Phrase used during the set: don’t say a word, don’t say a word.
As the set came to an end, the two drinking contestants were finishing up their drinks. At this point, the guy had pulled ahead. He didn’t have a significant lead, but a lead large enough that unless the young lady did a quick chug, she wasn’t going to win. I think by this point she was tapped out. I noticed her taking a long swag and when she finished she looked at the remaining bottle and appeared disappointed that she had consumed so little. The winner was rewarded with a Gangsta Rap Coloring Book. The loser was also given an award, but she had disappeared. I was informed later that she was found sprawled out drunk on a chair.
As for the two first bands, this definitely wasn’t a time for any PC-individuals to show up. The N-word was tossed around like grenades in Iraq. (Is that previous sentence a bit of an un-PC thing to write?) Anyways, all in context of the night as this was a Dre Day Celebration.
The first band up for the night was Stab City. They did a trio of Dre covers.
Interesting note is that the drummer led out in the cover songs. Perhaps the three of them decided that he was the best rapper of the group? For the night, in honor of Dre, they called themselves 187. After the covers, they did a handful of their own songs, the drummer back doing backup vocals. The drummer had the words Deez Nuts felt penned across his stomach. The bass player had a Mario Brothers t-shirt on.After their set finished, there was the night’s contest, which was who-could-finish-two-forties-the-quickest. Personally, I don’t think I even drink forty ounces of water a day so drinking two forties seemed like a challenge. There were two contestants, one new while another was a repeat. The 2008 winner declined to defend his title so the
repeat was the loser from last year. He was challenged by a young lady. Her friends yelled out for her not to do it, but she went for it anyways. Joe Dana, who was the master of ceremonies, insisted on knowing that each of the contestants had a ride home. The two forties were then duck taped to each hand (which meant they better have used the bathroom before hand). Meanwhile, Horace Weintraub was setting up. 3-D glasses were passed out. They were the 3-D glasses used for the Super Bowl’s Monsters versus Aliens commercial. It was yelled out that Horace Weintraub would be in 3-D. Actually, I think I only saw one person wearing them during the set. Horace Weintraub is a three piece band. Two vocalists with an electronica keyboardist and flashing lights. Back to the drinking contest, the young lady finished her first forty and the duck tape was taken off her right hand. The two time competitor of this event was taking a different course of action. He was drinking out of both bottles. So at this point, it was about even.During the Horace Weintraub set, I attempted to photograph the young lady in the band (I took a handful of photos of her, but this is in regards to one specific shot attempt). She actually gave a rather sexy pose, but just as I was about to shoot the photo a friend of hers interfered with my shot by sticking out her right arm. Oh well, photo ruined. The singer gave me a shrug and on they went. Later, a couple other young ladies went on stage (one being the arm lady) and they dance and sang to the music. Phrase used during the set: don’t say a word, don’t say a word.
As the set came to an end, the two drinking contestants were finishing up their drinks. At this point, the guy had pulled ahead. He didn’t have a significant lead, but a lead large enough that unless the young lady did a quick chug, she wasn’t going to win. I think by this point she was tapped out. I noticed her taking a long swag and when she finished she looked at the remaining bottle and appeared disappointed that she had consumed so little. The winner was rewarded with a Gangsta Rap Coloring Book. The loser was also given an award, but she had disappeared. I was informed later that she was found sprawled out drunk on a chair.
As for the two first bands, this definitely wasn’t a time for any PC-individuals to show up. The N-word was tossed around like grenades in Iraq. (Is that previous sentence a bit of an un-PC thing to write?) Anyways, all in context of the night as this was a Dre Day Celebration.
The third band up was Pu$$y Cow. They were the most gangsta-fashioned group. A mosh pit formed almost immediately. Joe Dana felt like joining in, so he yelled out, “I’m jumping in right there. I’m just telling you in advance. I’m coming through right there.” He pushed through the mosh pit, joining in the fun. The mosh pit eventually was pushed to the side to make room for a small dance floor, which was used extensively by a couple guys who 
designated it as their two man gang territory. Some interesting notes: At one point, it looked like every single person had a camera out and was photographing Pu$$y Cow. During one Dre cover song, Chissum decided to change the words of a rap, adding some comments about Disneyland. A comment was made by Joe Dana about never getting through a set without knocking over his beer, which would be very disappointing this night because he had a 40. The 40 did survive somehow.
The final group of the night was Old Man Markley. This is a 9 piece band. That’s right, 9 piece. They’re in the Southern blue’s mode. What I found so fascinating about this band was the various instruments they used. You have a washboard. You have a banjo – which reminds me so much of summer camp. You have a mandolin. You have a bass functional via a metal bathtub. You have an autoharp. A harmonica. And finally a fiddle – another one of those summer camp musical instruments. This is definitely a unique band. I was on one end of the stage and over-heard a young lady saying, “Isn’t this band just awesome?” “What’s the name of this
band,” her friend asked. “Old Man Markley.” They would have continued with a few more songs, but I guess one of their band mates needed to take off. Too bad.
Total side note: You ever find yourself feeling very clumsy. Well, during the day I found myself running into things. I turned around in the parking lot and smacked right into the side mirror of a Lexus. I was at a friend’s house and ran into his coffee table. I also stepped back and ran into his dog. It actually started on Friday afternoon, when I fell down a couple steps at the Santa Anita Race Track – a brief blog on my time at the race track was posted earlier though the part regarding the fall was left out. Anyways, while at the Blue Star I found myself being very careful around the speakers. A couple of times I found myself near the speakers and made a mental note to be careful around them. No need getting the Dre Gangsta Crew mad at me for ending a night way too early -- a reality based Southwest commercial.
designated it as their two man gang territory. Some interesting notes: At one point, it looked like every single person had a camera out and was photographing Pu$$y Cow. During one Dre cover song, Chissum decided to change the words of a rap, adding some comments about Disneyland. A comment was made by Joe Dana about never getting through a set without knocking over his beer, which would be very disappointing this night because he had a 40. The 40 did survive somehow.The final group of the night was Old Man Markley. This is a 9 piece band. That’s right, 9 piece. They’re in the Southern blue’s mode. What I found so fascinating about this band was the various instruments they used. You have a washboard. You have a banjo – which reminds me so much of summer camp. You have a mandolin. You have a bass functional via a metal bathtub. You have an autoharp. A harmonica. And finally a fiddle – another one of those summer camp musical instruments. This is definitely a unique band. I was on one end of the stage and over-heard a young lady saying, “Isn’t this band just awesome?” “What’s the name of this
band,” her friend asked. “Old Man Markley.” They would have continued with a few more songs, but I guess one of their band mates needed to take off. Too bad.Total side note: You ever find yourself feeling very clumsy. Well, during the day I found myself running into things. I turned around in the parking lot and smacked right into the side mirror of a Lexus. I was at a friend’s house and ran into his coffee table. I also stepped back and ran into his dog. It actually started on Friday afternoon, when I fell down a couple steps at the Santa Anita Race Track – a brief blog on my time at the race track was posted earlier though the part regarding the fall was left out. Anyways, while at the Blue Star I found myself being very careful around the speakers. A couple of times I found myself near the speakers and made a mental note to be careful around them. No need getting the Dre Gangsta Crew mad at me for ending a night way too early -- a reality based Southwest commercial.
P.S. It is a grand time in Los Angeles when at the beginnig of the week you can hang out at the Silverlake Lounge watching folk-rock bands like Local Natives and end the week at a Dre Day Celebration.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Santa Anita Park: Horse Racing
Santa Anita Park, horse racing. Santa Anita Park has free Fridays along with $1 beer, hot dogs, soft drinks and popcorn. Parking is $4. I headed over to the Park this last Friday, February 20th. It was a fun day at the park. If a person has a vacation day to burn or perhaps wants to take one of those “mental” sick days, this is a fun place to go for the day.
Note on parking. If you don’t mind walking, you can park outside and just walk in. It is a semi-long walk, but nothing crazy. I would have done this except for the fact that I had arrived a tad later than I wanted and wanted to place a wager on the first race.
Here’s a partial list of how my day went: I’m not one who bets a lot, but when it comes to horse racing I figured that is half the excitement. Now I’m not a person who is addicted to horse racing. This was actually the first time I’d gone to the races since 2005/2006. This time on the betting, I decided to bet on two horses per race. I figured I’d bet on one horse to win and another to show. This wasn’t exactly the best strategy. For the first race, I bet on De Brief Me to win. He ran third (show). One the second race, I decided to go with the obvious pick and went with Rail Trip to win. This horse did win, but I also bet on Racketeer and he arrived last. Since I was on a losing streak, I decided to go more conservative on the third race. I bet on Meteore and Congaree Park to show. I obviously wasn’t conservative enough, because Meteore placed third and Congaree Park placed eighth. I decided to go back to my original strategy on the fourth race. I bet on Bewitching Bartok to win. He came in fifth. For the fifth race, I got screwed. I told the person at the betting booth that I wanted to bet $5 on Motu Nui to win, but I was instead given a $2 ticket. Unfortunately, I didn’t complain about it (I just took the money that was returned to me), because Motu Nui did win. Oh well, even if I’d won more money, I still would not have made up my loses for the day. For the sixth race, I also got screwed. I asked to place a bet on Captain Kali to show, but was giving a ticket that said win. Once again, I didn’t complain and Captain Kali ended up in third. Darn. For the seventh race, I bet on Devoted Magic to win. The horse came in second. For the eighth and final race, I bet on Golden Delight to win. The horse came in dead last. OUCH. So I lost money on Friday. A couple errors made could have gotten me closer to even, but I still would have been underwater. Oh well.
Perhaps when I go back again, I’ll return to my more conservative strategy from 2005/2006, which is just to bet that a horse shows.
Note on parking. If you don’t mind walking, you can park outside and just walk in. It is a semi-long walk, but nothing crazy. I would have done this except for the fact that I had arrived a tad later than I wanted and wanted to place a wager on the first race.
Here’s a partial list of how my day went: I’m not one who bets a lot, but when it comes to horse racing I figured that is half the excitement. Now I’m not a person who is addicted to horse racing. This was actually the first time I’d gone to the races since 2005/2006. This time on the betting, I decided to bet on two horses per race. I figured I’d bet on one horse to win and another to show. This wasn’t exactly the best strategy. For the first race, I bet on De Brief Me to win. He ran third (show). One the second race, I decided to go with the obvious pick and went with Rail Trip to win. This horse did win, but I also bet on Racketeer and he arrived last. Since I was on a losing streak, I decided to go more conservative on the third race. I bet on Meteore and Congaree Park to show. I obviously wasn’t conservative enough, because Meteore placed third and Congaree Park placed eighth. I decided to go back to my original strategy on the fourth race. I bet on Bewitching Bartok to win. He came in fifth. For the fifth race, I got screwed. I told the person at the betting booth that I wanted to bet $5 on Motu Nui to win, but I was instead given a $2 ticket. Unfortunately, I didn’t complain about it (I just took the money that was returned to me), because Motu Nui did win. Oh well, even if I’d won more money, I still would not have made up my loses for the day. For the sixth race, I also got screwed. I asked to place a bet on Captain Kali to show, but was giving a ticket that said win. Once again, I didn’t complain and Captain Kali ended up in third. Darn. For the seventh race, I bet on Devoted Magic to win. The horse came in second. For the eighth and final race, I bet on Golden Delight to win. The horse came in dead last. OUCH. So I lost money on Friday. A couple errors made could have gotten me closer to even, but I still would have been underwater. Oh well.
Perhaps when I go back again, I’ll return to my more conservative strategy from 2005/2006, which is just to bet that a horse shows.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
A little Oscar blogging
Since I've written various blogs on movies, I may as well write some thoughts on the Oscars.
1. The Oscars in the past had clips for each of the best picture nominees. This year not. Perhaps it was to speed up the show, but the show still went pass 8:30 p.m.
2. I liked how previous Oscar winners provided personal messages to each of the best supporting and lead actors and actresses.
3. Did Shirley MacLaine basically tell Anna Hathaway that she was a great actress and she'd get many more nominations in her lifetime, but this just wasn't going to be her night?
4. I read some bloggers who are entertainment critics who say that Kate Winslet really won for her performance in Revolutionary Road versus The Reader. I agree with this. I personally think the Oscar should have gone to Anne Hathaway, but on the other hand, Kate Winslet can be denied only so long before it just looks unfair. She deserved a victory if you consider that sometimes the Oscar goes for an individual's body of work versus just a single movie.
5. I believe it was the screenwriter for Slumdog Millionaire who thanked Warner Brothers. I found that interesting considering who Warner Brothers dealt with Slumdog Millionaire. I also found it interesting how the producer failed to mention Warner Brothers when he accepted the Best Picture Oscar.
6. Did Sean Penn forget to thank his wife? There will be an argument about that at some point.
7. I don't think there were any sweet moments like last year's Oscar where Marketa Irglova was allowed to come back on stage; however, there was a very emotional moment when Heath Ledger's family came onstage to accept his Oscar.
8. I can't help but think that Dark Knight should have won two or three additional awards in either of these areas: editing, makeup, sound, visual effects, art direction and cinematography.
9. I haven't seen Milk so I can't judge Sean Penn's acting, but I can't help thinking that Mickey Rourke was robbed. To me, this wasn't a situation like Kate Winslet where the Academy was rewarding someone for the body of their work.
10. I think Slumdog Millionaire is so over-rated. Sorry. I liked the movie, but I just don't see it as being a best picture winner. This is a fell good movie that in five years will just be one of those movies you watch when you're depressed and want to be cheered up. Here's my five best picture nods: Doubt, Revolutionary Road, Dark Knight, The Reader and (I'll trust the Academy on this one since I didn't see the film) Milk. I'll admit The Reader is on the edge, but as I mentioned in my movie review of the film, I think this movie gets a nod because it makes you think about ethical issues. I could see Rachel Getting Married squeezing it out.
P.S. The Pineapple Express sketch was amusing. Some of the Hugh Jackman stuff was painful.
1. The Oscars in the past had clips for each of the best picture nominees. This year not. Perhaps it was to speed up the show, but the show still went pass 8:30 p.m.
2. I liked how previous Oscar winners provided personal messages to each of the best supporting and lead actors and actresses.
3. Did Shirley MacLaine basically tell Anna Hathaway that she was a great actress and she'd get many more nominations in her lifetime, but this just wasn't going to be her night?
4. I read some bloggers who are entertainment critics who say that Kate Winslet really won for her performance in Revolutionary Road versus The Reader. I agree with this. I personally think the Oscar should have gone to Anne Hathaway, but on the other hand, Kate Winslet can be denied only so long before it just looks unfair. She deserved a victory if you consider that sometimes the Oscar goes for an individual's body of work versus just a single movie.
5. I believe it was the screenwriter for Slumdog Millionaire who thanked Warner Brothers. I found that interesting considering who Warner Brothers dealt with Slumdog Millionaire. I also found it interesting how the producer failed to mention Warner Brothers when he accepted the Best Picture Oscar.
6. Did Sean Penn forget to thank his wife? There will be an argument about that at some point.
7. I don't think there were any sweet moments like last year's Oscar where Marketa Irglova was allowed to come back on stage; however, there was a very emotional moment when Heath Ledger's family came onstage to accept his Oscar.
8. I can't help but think that Dark Knight should have won two or three additional awards in either of these areas: editing, makeup, sound, visual effects, art direction and cinematography.
9. I haven't seen Milk so I can't judge Sean Penn's acting, but I can't help thinking that Mickey Rourke was robbed. To me, this wasn't a situation like Kate Winslet where the Academy was rewarding someone for the body of their work.
10. I think Slumdog Millionaire is so over-rated. Sorry. I liked the movie, but I just don't see it as being a best picture winner. This is a fell good movie that in five years will just be one of those movies you watch when you're depressed and want to be cheered up. Here's my five best picture nods: Doubt, Revolutionary Road, Dark Knight, The Reader and (I'll trust the Academy on this one since I didn't see the film) Milk. I'll admit The Reader is on the edge, but as I mentioned in my movie review of the film, I think this movie gets a nod because it makes you think about ethical issues. I could see Rachel Getting Married squeezing it out.
P.S. The Pineapple Express sketch was amusing. Some of the Hugh Jackman stuff was painful.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Movie Review: The Reader
I’ve struggled with writing this review. It is getting late on a Saturday evening. I’ve mulled over this review for the last few days. In fact, I was going to post this review before my review of Taken, but I was just finding it too hard to write this up. Before reading onwards, here are two caveats. I’m just going to post this today no matter what and post it before I head off to hang with friends on a Saturday night. Some of my thoughts are all over the place so be kind. Second, some of my memory recall of events might be slightly off, sorry.
The Reader. I wanted to catch this movie before the Oscars. I’d read articles that argued this was the least expected best picture nomination and perhaps the least deserving – stealing away a possible nomination from Dark Knight or Doubt. Here’s my initial opinion on the movie. The first half of this movie is a bit boring. I guess if you’ve seen the movie or heard about it you might find this a stunning statement -- Kate Winslet constantly in the nude, having hot sex. Sorry, I just wasn’t into it. I suppose the whole point with the nudity is to have you think about the soul of the two characters. Where the movie picks up is during the Nazi guard trial. It brought up a lot of thought provoking issues. In my opinion, this isn’t a movie nominated because of its storytelling (which I don’t think is all that great), but because it makes you think about complex issues.
Warning: there is a major spoiler revealed here. The stunning spoiler, and this is something I didn’t pick up on until the movie neared its end, is that Hanna (Kate Winslet) is illiterate. Why is this important? She volunteered as a Nazi guard, because she was illiterate. She worked at a factory during the war and was about to get a promotion. Due to the shame she felt regarding her illiteracy, she immediately volunteers as a Nazi guard to avoid revealing this shame. As a Nazi guard, one of her main functions was to select ten individuals at a time and send them off to Auschwitz. Another crime of hers was being present during a horrific event where 300 Jews remained locked in a burning church. She lived an uneventful life as a metro toll collector after the war. It is during this time that she meets Michael (David Kross). What follows is a love affair. She suddenly disappears (once again driven by a promotion that would expose her illiteracy). Years later, she is arrested and this is where Hanna and Michael once again cross paths. Unknown to Hanna, Michael is now in law school and is taking a class where part of the classroom is spent at the trial.
During the trial, I felt that Hanna wasn’t fully apologetic, but she was the most honest of the guards. She admitted that she was a Nazi guard while her fellow guards initially denied it. She did not deny her role in the deaths of 300 Jews in a church. Instead, she asks the judge what other options were available to her. In her opinion, if she opened the door, the Jews would have escaped meaning that she would have faced punishment.
Her honesty causes her fellow guards to conspire against her. She is accused in the trail as being the leader. The judge points to a document that describes the church fire, asking which of the guards wrote it. He believes it is Hanna. Hanna can prove that she wasn’t the leader by saying she is illiterate. Instead, due to her shame, she simply can’t admit this and therefore admits by default that she was in fact the leader. Now Michael could have done something here. He could have spoken to the judge, telling the judge that Hanna is in fact illiterate. He couldn’t do this, because he was ashamed to admit that he had an affair with a Nazi guard. The result of this fact being hidden is that Hanna is given a life sentence while the other guards are given a sentence of around four years.
Eventually, Michael re-establishes contact with Hanna via book recordings. He reads books to Hanna. Hanna eventually uses these recordings to read and write.
I don’t know if by reading the above, immediate moral/ethical questions start popping into your mind. You might feel sympathy for Hanna or you may not. You may also wonder about Michael: how could he allow someone to spend a lifetime in prison when the real sentence should be only four years? Two movie critics had vastly different takes on the movie. Ron Rosenbaum on Slate.com attacks this movie as being a “film whose essential metaphorical thrust is to exculpate Nazi-era Germans from knowing complicity in the Final Solution.” Roger Ebert (FYI: I think there might be a link issue on Ebert's website, which hopefully gets fixed) on the other end argues that this is a movie about shame and, “’The Reader’ suggests that many people are like Michael and Hanna, and possess secrets that we would do shameful things to conceal.”
What follows are a couple questions I had (I had many more, but will only address two of them – you can read the two articles by Rosenbaum and Ebert for other questions):
Here’s one question that popped into my head while driving home from the movie theatre: Are there degrees of guilt? She obviously wasn’t the leader of the guards. She obviously found herself in this job by error. And yet she still participated in it. Do I feel sympathy for the fact that she was sentenced too harshly? Yes. Do I feel sympathy for the fact that she got entangled with Nazi crimes? No. She could have taken a stance – and by stance I don’t mean trying to free the Jews (that takes immense amounts of courage), but she could have left her job as a guard. But then you also have to ask yourself: If placed into that situation, would I have had the courage to leave? I think it is initially easy to say yes. But then am I really morally better than Nazi Germans or those who participated in recent genocides in Iraq, Darfur or Rwanda? In the right circumstances, could any of us find ourselves doing horrible acts?
Another question that popped into my head was the issue of forgiveness. After committing suicide Hanna states that she’s left money for the daughter of the survivor who testified against her. Though I have to admit that I don’t think Hanna was apologetic during the trail or even at the time of her death for her role as a guard, I think this last act is her attempt to apologize for her crimes. I don’t know if that makes much sense. Hanna doesn’t apologize for doing the job that was assigned to her. She is a person who believes in doing a job to the best of her abilities. I think she is apologizing for being a murderer. The daughter has no forgiveness for her. Michael (Ralph Fiennes), who delivers the money to the daughter, explains that Hanna was illiterate. The daughter responds with something as follows, “Does this money excuse her for what she did?” Michael doesn’t go a step further, which is to explain that Hanna was sentenced unfairly (this brings up the issue of sympathy again). Even though the daughter doesn’t understand what Michael attempted to say, her statement still has a point. Does it matter that Hanna was only a follower versus a leader? Should the fact that Hanna was just following orders mean that the daughter should extend some level of forgiveness? I think the answer is that the daughter should have extended forgiveness. And perhaps the daughter did extend forgiveness via her actions. Her words indicated no forgiveness, but her actions did via the fact that she put the tin can that held the money in a visible location. In some ways, the last moments of this film reminded me of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Forgiving is an important process in healing.
The Reader. I wanted to catch this movie before the Oscars. I’d read articles that argued this was the least expected best picture nomination and perhaps the least deserving – stealing away a possible nomination from Dark Knight or Doubt. Here’s my initial opinion on the movie. The first half of this movie is a bit boring. I guess if you’ve seen the movie or heard about it you might find this a stunning statement -- Kate Winslet constantly in the nude, having hot sex. Sorry, I just wasn’t into it. I suppose the whole point with the nudity is to have you think about the soul of the two characters. Where the movie picks up is during the Nazi guard trial. It brought up a lot of thought provoking issues. In my opinion, this isn’t a movie nominated because of its storytelling (which I don’t think is all that great), but because it makes you think about complex issues.
Warning: there is a major spoiler revealed here. The stunning spoiler, and this is something I didn’t pick up on until the movie neared its end, is that Hanna (Kate Winslet) is illiterate. Why is this important? She volunteered as a Nazi guard, because she was illiterate. She worked at a factory during the war and was about to get a promotion. Due to the shame she felt regarding her illiteracy, she immediately volunteers as a Nazi guard to avoid revealing this shame. As a Nazi guard, one of her main functions was to select ten individuals at a time and send them off to Auschwitz. Another crime of hers was being present during a horrific event where 300 Jews remained locked in a burning church. She lived an uneventful life as a metro toll collector after the war. It is during this time that she meets Michael (David Kross). What follows is a love affair. She suddenly disappears (once again driven by a promotion that would expose her illiteracy). Years later, she is arrested and this is where Hanna and Michael once again cross paths. Unknown to Hanna, Michael is now in law school and is taking a class where part of the classroom is spent at the trial.
During the trial, I felt that Hanna wasn’t fully apologetic, but she was the most honest of the guards. She admitted that she was a Nazi guard while her fellow guards initially denied it. She did not deny her role in the deaths of 300 Jews in a church. Instead, she asks the judge what other options were available to her. In her opinion, if she opened the door, the Jews would have escaped meaning that she would have faced punishment.
Her honesty causes her fellow guards to conspire against her. She is accused in the trail as being the leader. The judge points to a document that describes the church fire, asking which of the guards wrote it. He believes it is Hanna. Hanna can prove that she wasn’t the leader by saying she is illiterate. Instead, due to her shame, she simply can’t admit this and therefore admits by default that she was in fact the leader. Now Michael could have done something here. He could have spoken to the judge, telling the judge that Hanna is in fact illiterate. He couldn’t do this, because he was ashamed to admit that he had an affair with a Nazi guard. The result of this fact being hidden is that Hanna is given a life sentence while the other guards are given a sentence of around four years.
Eventually, Michael re-establishes contact with Hanna via book recordings. He reads books to Hanna. Hanna eventually uses these recordings to read and write.
I don’t know if by reading the above, immediate moral/ethical questions start popping into your mind. You might feel sympathy for Hanna or you may not. You may also wonder about Michael: how could he allow someone to spend a lifetime in prison when the real sentence should be only four years? Two movie critics had vastly different takes on the movie. Ron Rosenbaum on Slate.com attacks this movie as being a “film whose essential metaphorical thrust is to exculpate Nazi-era Germans from knowing complicity in the Final Solution.” Roger Ebert (FYI: I think there might be a link issue on Ebert's website, which hopefully gets fixed) on the other end argues that this is a movie about shame and, “’The Reader’ suggests that many people are like Michael and Hanna, and possess secrets that we would do shameful things to conceal.”
What follows are a couple questions I had (I had many more, but will only address two of them – you can read the two articles by Rosenbaum and Ebert for other questions):
Here’s one question that popped into my head while driving home from the movie theatre: Are there degrees of guilt? She obviously wasn’t the leader of the guards. She obviously found herself in this job by error. And yet she still participated in it. Do I feel sympathy for the fact that she was sentenced too harshly? Yes. Do I feel sympathy for the fact that she got entangled with Nazi crimes? No. She could have taken a stance – and by stance I don’t mean trying to free the Jews (that takes immense amounts of courage), but she could have left her job as a guard. But then you also have to ask yourself: If placed into that situation, would I have had the courage to leave? I think it is initially easy to say yes. But then am I really morally better than Nazi Germans or those who participated in recent genocides in Iraq, Darfur or Rwanda? In the right circumstances, could any of us find ourselves doing horrible acts?
Another question that popped into my head was the issue of forgiveness. After committing suicide Hanna states that she’s left money for the daughter of the survivor who testified against her. Though I have to admit that I don’t think Hanna was apologetic during the trail or even at the time of her death for her role as a guard, I think this last act is her attempt to apologize for her crimes. I don’t know if that makes much sense. Hanna doesn’t apologize for doing the job that was assigned to her. She is a person who believes in doing a job to the best of her abilities. I think she is apologizing for being a murderer. The daughter has no forgiveness for her. Michael (Ralph Fiennes), who delivers the money to the daughter, explains that Hanna was illiterate. The daughter responds with something as follows, “Does this money excuse her for what she did?” Michael doesn’t go a step further, which is to explain that Hanna was sentenced unfairly (this brings up the issue of sympathy again). Even though the daughter doesn’t understand what Michael attempted to say, her statement still has a point. Does it matter that Hanna was only a follower versus a leader? Should the fact that Hanna was just following orders mean that the daughter should extend some level of forgiveness? I think the answer is that the daughter should have extended forgiveness. And perhaps the daughter did extend forgiveness via her actions. Her words indicated no forgiveness, but her actions did via the fact that she put the tin can that held the money in a visible location. In some ways, the last moments of this film reminded me of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Forgiving is an important process in healing.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Movie Review: Taken
Taken. This movie is split into one-third and two-thirds of a movie. The first third of the movie is a set up that gives you some background on Bryan Mills’ (Liam Neeson) life. You learn he’s a retired CIA agent. He’s now retired (partially driven by the fact that he put his personal life above his professional life and got rewarded with an out of the way assignment). He moved to Los Angeles to live closer to his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace – also had a role on Lost). He’s divorced and his ex-wife (Famke Janssen) has married a wealthy individual. This wealthy individual doesn’t come off as that bad of a guy, though the ex-wife has a mean streak to her. (The question of course is: how does an ex-wife of a CIA agent find such a wealthy catch?) Mills still hangs out with his CIA buddies who offer him a private security job which entails guarding a young female singer. It is at the concert where a crazed fan attempts to slash/kill/threaten the young singer that you witness the skills Mills learned in the CIA. The last two-thirds of the movie deals with the Paris, France (his daughter having gone off to Europe for a summer road trip) abduction of his daughter by an Albanian sex slave gang and how Mills goes about rescuing his daughter.
This is one of those action movies that at times make you pause and think that this movie just isn’t making much sense. First example of a pause and think, Bryan Mills goes to the apartment where his daughter was kidnapped. For some reason, instead of breaking into the apartment directly, he breaks into another apartment and then enters the apartment where his daughter was staying by climbing out onto the window edge and carefully making his way from apartment to apartment – five stories up. This would make sense if the police had sealed off the apartment, but it doesn’t seem like that was the case. There is no evidence in the apartment that the police were even informed of the kidnapping -- there was a broken cell phone on the floor, which I’d think the police would have taken if they’d searched the apartment. I suppose there are reasons why he'd do this -- fear of an alarm going off, fear of having someone see a busted door (though he's ex-CIA and knows how to pick a lock) -- but I wouldn't buy any of the arguments. Second example of a pause and think, Mills chases down a lead at the airport. He steals a taxi cab and the airport police are seen running after him. The bad guy is running up a ramp. Mills drives off after him. He probably drives 200 yards – at most. He then jumps out of the car to chase down the guy. The guy gets killed by a truck. Where have the police gone? Is 200 yards too far for them to run? Third example, there are numerous gun battles where he is a single guy against many. The many have machine guns. He has a hand gun. Do people with machine guns not know how to use them? There is a scene where a gunman is shooting up in the air while Mills is hiding behind a couch. And how is it that someone with a machine gun can’t at least wound Mills while Mills somehow has such perfect aim that while hiding behind a couch he is able to take a single shot and shoot a guy in the foot?
There are a lot of gaps in this movie, but I admit I enjoyed it though I half suspect if I see this movie five years from now I’ll be laughing at the action scenes. Admittedly, I think a more realistic take on this storyline would have had his friends head over to Europe with him. You could have a set of ex-CIA agents destroying the Albanian sex slavery ring. That would have made greater sense, I think – not that that would make much sense either, but at least it would seem more realistic for four ex-CIA agents making a rescue attempt versus just one. But if that was written into the script then I guess you wouldn’t have the American cultural characteristic of individuality at work, which is probably why this movie is doing so well at the box office. Hey, I admit it, I was sucked into the rescue-the-damsel-in-distress theme. This isn't the greatest action flick in the world (especially after comparing this movie to all the action/comic book movies from the summer), but for a winter action movie it works.
This is one of those action movies that at times make you pause and think that this movie just isn’t making much sense. First example of a pause and think, Bryan Mills goes to the apartment where his daughter was kidnapped. For some reason, instead of breaking into the apartment directly, he breaks into another apartment and then enters the apartment where his daughter was staying by climbing out onto the window edge and carefully making his way from apartment to apartment – five stories up. This would make sense if the police had sealed off the apartment, but it doesn’t seem like that was the case. There is no evidence in the apartment that the police were even informed of the kidnapping -- there was a broken cell phone on the floor, which I’d think the police would have taken if they’d searched the apartment. I suppose there are reasons why he'd do this -- fear of an alarm going off, fear of having someone see a busted door (though he's ex-CIA and knows how to pick a lock) -- but I wouldn't buy any of the arguments. Second example of a pause and think, Mills chases down a lead at the airport. He steals a taxi cab and the airport police are seen running after him. The bad guy is running up a ramp. Mills drives off after him. He probably drives 200 yards – at most. He then jumps out of the car to chase down the guy. The guy gets killed by a truck. Where have the police gone? Is 200 yards too far for them to run? Third example, there are numerous gun battles where he is a single guy against many. The many have machine guns. He has a hand gun. Do people with machine guns not know how to use them? There is a scene where a gunman is shooting up in the air while Mills is hiding behind a couch. And how is it that someone with a machine gun can’t at least wound Mills while Mills somehow has such perfect aim that while hiding behind a couch he is able to take a single shot and shoot a guy in the foot?
There are a lot of gaps in this movie, but I admit I enjoyed it though I half suspect if I see this movie five years from now I’ll be laughing at the action scenes. Admittedly, I think a more realistic take on this storyline would have had his friends head over to Europe with him. You could have a set of ex-CIA agents destroying the Albanian sex slavery ring. That would have made greater sense, I think – not that that would make much sense either, but at least it would seem more realistic for four ex-CIA agents making a rescue attempt versus just one. But if that was written into the script then I guess you wouldn’t have the American cultural characteristic of individuality at work, which is probably why this movie is doing so well at the box office. Hey, I admit it, I was sucked into the rescue-the-damsel-in-distress theme. This isn't the greatest action flick in the world (especially after comparing this movie to all the action/comic book movies from the summer), but for a winter action movie it works.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Off to see Audra Mae and Where's Moo at Silverlake Lounge
Where’s Moo. On their equipment is an IO Echo sticker. Hey, can’t go wrong there. This band has a lead singer who is more than willing to give up the attention to his band mates. There were several times when he moved to the background and gave it up to the others. He also has a singing style where he cups the microphone while singing. This band uses a computer with the lead singer hovering over the monitor every other song. The bass player was a fill in. This seems to be a common theme that I’ve noticed recently, bands not having their current line-up for a night and needing friends to help them out. The bass player was a previous member of the band so it worked out okay for them. The bass player was helped as needed. It appeared that the guitarist would occasionally take on duties belonging to the bass player. There was a couple interesting moments on stage. When the band was starting their set, they began by doing a sound check and then just went right into their set. Another moment occurred when the guitarist was taking over the responsibilities of the bass player. While trying to direct some of the onstage action, the guitarist lost his guitar pick. The lead singer, not seeing it, stepped on it. The guitar player knelt down and tried to pull it out from underneath the foot of the lead singer, but couldn’t. Finally, the lead singer shifted his weight just a bit and the guitarist was able to recover his pick. How would I describe their music? It is hard for me to describe their music. Their website includes reviews that describe them a bit REM-ish, Cranberries-ish. I can see how those bands might reflect their influences.
Audra Mae. It was apparent very quickly that a group of people that night were there to see Audra Mae. About five minutes before her set began, the crowd started to edge towards the stage. I’ve seen her perform 3 or 4 times previously; however, she was always either solo or with two back-up singers and a musician. This time around she had the whole band out. She had two back-up singers along with five musicians. It was great seeing her in a different light. She gave it her all for the crowd. She started off her set with a jacket on, but by the start of the second song she had to take it off. The crowd loved the set. A couple of people were climbing atop the seats around the bar to get a better look. One of the back-up singers was Jodie from The Automatic Music Explosion. For this set, she had a totally different look to her. Much more country-blues-rock-folk look versus the shoe-string, make-up look for AME.
Audra Mae. It was apparent very quickly that a group of people that night were there to see Audra Mae. About five minutes before her set began, the crowd started to edge towards the stage. I’ve seen her perform 3 or 4 times previously; however, she was always either solo or with two back-up singers and a musician. This time around she had the whole band out. She had two back-up singers along with five musicians. It was great seeing her in a different light. She gave it her all for the crowd. She started off her set with a jacket on, but by the start of the second song she had to take it off. The crowd loved the set. A couple of people were climbing atop the seats around the bar to get a better look. One of the back-up singers was Jodie from The Automatic Music Explosion. For this set, she had a totally different look to her. Much more country-blues-rock-folk look versus the shoe-string, make-up look for AME.
Yes: I've been hanging out at Silverlake Lounge a lot over the last couple of weeks.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Silverlake Lounge Part 2: Army Navy and Local Natives
Local Natives. So I went back on Monday to catch Local Natives at Silverlake Lounge for a second time. Part of it was driven by the fact that I was hoping to capture some better photos than last time. Part of it was driven (most of it) by the fact that this band is really good. So what happened other than some awesome music? There was some nice interaction with the audience. At one point, there were screams and cheers for a particular song. Someone in the band asked, “I heard everyone scream except for one person. Who is that one person?” A guy in a Celtics jacket raised his hand. There was some back and forth with the guy for a few moments. There was some nice interaction within the band itself. Towards the end of the set, it was mentioned that the following week was their last week of their residency at Silverlake Lounge. One of the band members got confused and asked, “Did you say this was our last song?” Another band member replied, “No, he meant that next week was our last night here.” The confused band member said, “Good, because I was going to have to jump him . . . . I’m kidding, I wasn’t going to do that.” It was a nice set. I recognized most of the songs from the previous set. I also recognized a number of the individuals in the audience, which indicates this band has a nice following. I can also say I helped out on of the band members. Before the set began, the violinist handed me a half empty drink, “Can you put this on the bar?” Okay, so that wasn’t as cool as helping out various bands when they knock over their microphone stands, but whatever. When I saw the violinist taking up the drum sticks and drumming away on the wood beams of Silverlake Lounge, the movie August Rush popped into my head. I just remember seeing the kid in the movie hearing and experimenting with all these different sounds. It isn’t like drumming away on wood is unique, but that strange connection was made anyways. I wonder what the violinist uses to drum on if they play at other venues that don’t have wood beams. I guess I’ll find out at some point.
Army Navy. They played a song from the Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist soundtrack. I was thinking they were doing a cover. But I went to Amazon.com just to make sure and well, they were playing one of their own songs. Cool. I didn’t know this fact about this band beforehand. Good for them for getting their song onto the album. There was this comment by a band member, “This is a new song. We’ve never played it. It doesn’t even have a title. It doesn’t even have lyrics.” It was a good song even though it didn’t have a title or lyrics. During their set, a photographer was taking some photos. This guy had a very high end SLR camera, one that if it is one of the newer versions has the price tag around $8,000 and if an older version still has a price tag around $4,000. He came loaded. He had three different lenses, which when two were not in use he left them on the stage. I was actually a bit worried for awhile that someone in the band might accidentally kick one or both off the stage. I guess I’m used to more active bands. I wouldn’t leave anything of importance anywhere near some of the bands I follow. Army Navy has a different feel though, much more low-key, which helps on the camera lens front. After re-reading the last couple of sentences, I’m thinking that wasn' the most ringing endorsement: hey, any band with a song on the soundtrack of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist is a-ok with me.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Movie Review: Revolutionary Road
Revolutionary Road. Sean Nelson wrote a piece on MSN about the worst Oscar winners. He wrote that Sam Mendes was the least deserving Best Director Oscar winner for his work on American Beauty. He also wrote that Revolutionary Road is “torpid” – dull. Now personally, I liked American Beauty. And I personally liked Revolutionary Road. I would admit (Sean Nelson states that American Beauty shows a "shallow" side of suburban America) that Sam Mendes appears to have a grunge against suburbia. I don’t know why this is. I don’t know much about him. Perhaps he grew up in the suburbs or perhaps he’s just a snob. I don’t know. With that said, Revolutionary Road follows the lives Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) and April (Kate Winslet) Wheeler. The movie starts with them meeting at a house party - in the city. It then jumps ahead an unknown number of years. They’re married. Have two children. Live on Revolutionary Road in Connecticut suburbia. Frank works at a dead end job in New York.
Their marriage has crumbled. April fell in love with Frank, because he seemed like a person who wanted to find himself, live a life of adventure. She didn’t see herself living life in suburbia. She didn’t see herself married to a person who had a desk job. This tension in their marriage causes Frank to start up an affair with a young lady in the secretary pool.
April presses for change. She suggests that they move off to Paris. Frank needs a little convincing, but eventually agrees. Their marriage seems to repair itself and then it all falls apart again. Feeling less pressure to perform at his job, Frank suddenly blossoms at work. He is offered a promotion. April finds out that she is pregnant. With the promotion, it seemed to me that Frank suddenly found his calling. This wasn’t the calling that April had hoped for and so she didn’t want to accept this outcome. She suggests they continue with their plan and that perhaps she should get an abortion, but Frank finds the idea of an abortion abhorrent. She found the two of them on two separate roads. He now wanted to stay in Corporate America and be the bread winner for his growing family; while she still wanted the life of adventure. April once again discovers that she can’t stand being around her husband.
April finds herself having a brief rendezvous with a next door neighbor (who is also married.) Both of them have now had affairs. I think each has an affair for different reasons. I think April has an affair to escape the present. Frank has an affair because he wants to feel like a man that a woman holds in esteem.
I will also write this about Frank. He is a cruel man who twists facts to hurt his wife. His emotional abuse leads to the below outcome.
Spoiler Alert. The last part of the movie actually reminded me of a recent episode of Battlestar Galactica. Can you believe that? Comparing Revolutionary Road to Battlestar Galactica? In Revolutionary Road, April screams bloody murder at Frank. They have a huge, ballistic fight. The next morning, Frank comes down to the kitchen. There is April, dressed with a smile and preparing orange juice. The kids are off at the neighbors. She has a great breakfast prepared. She indicates that this is to celebrate the start of Frank’s new job. And then as soon as Frank leaves, she attempts an abortion – which she is attempting after 12 weeks. (I guess self-induced abortions have a better chance of success before 12 weeks. I’m no expert on this, but this is a discussion point in the movie.) As she is having an abortion after 12 weeks, she is essentially risking suicide. Why does this remind me of Battlestar Galactica? In the episode called “Sometimes a Great Notion” Dee and Apollo have an awesome date. This is after the disappointment of learning that Earth was destroyed by nukes and that they must continue their search for a homeland. Dee apparently wants to live the perfect day. She wants to feel like she did before when she and Apollo were first dating. And then she commits suicide. I got the same feeling about April. She wanted to have a morning where she was once again in love with Frank. And then she committed suicide.
The honest truth is that this is one devastating movie. You’re depressed from about minute five onwards until the end -- that is you feel some joy when they live in the city, but depression when they move to the suburbs. But I was also engrossed in the movie. I know that all people don’t grow up bored to death in suburbia like Sam Mendes would like us to believe. I don’t believe that people have unfulfilled lives living in suburbia. On the other hand though, I’m sure some people do feel trapped in life and Sam Mendes is making films that focus on these individuals. I suspect Revolutionary Road is about the lives of artists, adventurers who compromise in life and find out that they regret it.
Their marriage has crumbled. April fell in love with Frank, because he seemed like a person who wanted to find himself, live a life of adventure. She didn’t see herself living life in suburbia. She didn’t see herself married to a person who had a desk job. This tension in their marriage causes Frank to start up an affair with a young lady in the secretary pool.
April presses for change. She suggests that they move off to Paris. Frank needs a little convincing, but eventually agrees. Their marriage seems to repair itself and then it all falls apart again. Feeling less pressure to perform at his job, Frank suddenly blossoms at work. He is offered a promotion. April finds out that she is pregnant. With the promotion, it seemed to me that Frank suddenly found his calling. This wasn’t the calling that April had hoped for and so she didn’t want to accept this outcome. She suggests they continue with their plan and that perhaps she should get an abortion, but Frank finds the idea of an abortion abhorrent. She found the two of them on two separate roads. He now wanted to stay in Corporate America and be the bread winner for his growing family; while she still wanted the life of adventure. April once again discovers that she can’t stand being around her husband.
April finds herself having a brief rendezvous with a next door neighbor (who is also married.) Both of them have now had affairs. I think each has an affair for different reasons. I think April has an affair to escape the present. Frank has an affair because he wants to feel like a man that a woman holds in esteem.
I will also write this about Frank. He is a cruel man who twists facts to hurt his wife. His emotional abuse leads to the below outcome.
Spoiler Alert. The last part of the movie actually reminded me of a recent episode of Battlestar Galactica. Can you believe that? Comparing Revolutionary Road to Battlestar Galactica? In Revolutionary Road, April screams bloody murder at Frank. They have a huge, ballistic fight. The next morning, Frank comes down to the kitchen. There is April, dressed with a smile and preparing orange juice. The kids are off at the neighbors. She has a great breakfast prepared. She indicates that this is to celebrate the start of Frank’s new job. And then as soon as Frank leaves, she attempts an abortion – which she is attempting after 12 weeks. (I guess self-induced abortions have a better chance of success before 12 weeks. I’m no expert on this, but this is a discussion point in the movie.) As she is having an abortion after 12 weeks, she is essentially risking suicide. Why does this remind me of Battlestar Galactica? In the episode called “Sometimes a Great Notion” Dee and Apollo have an awesome date. This is after the disappointment of learning that Earth was destroyed by nukes and that they must continue their search for a homeland. Dee apparently wants to live the perfect day. She wants to feel like she did before when she and Apollo were first dating. And then she commits suicide. I got the same feeling about April. She wanted to have a morning where she was once again in love with Frank. And then she committed suicide.
The honest truth is that this is one devastating movie. You’re depressed from about minute five onwards until the end -- that is you feel some joy when they live in the city, but depression when they move to the suburbs. But I was also engrossed in the movie. I know that all people don’t grow up bored to death in suburbia like Sam Mendes would like us to believe. I don’t believe that people have unfulfilled lives living in suburbia. On the other hand though, I’m sure some people do feel trapped in life and Sam Mendes is making films that focus on these individuals. I suspect Revolutionary Road is about the lives of artists, adventurers who compromise in life and find out that they regret it.
I’ll admit I’m disappointed that Revolutionary Road did not get nominated for Best Picture. In my opinion, this movie is so much better than The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Of course, if you happen to read my review on Benjamin Button you’ll see that I hated that picture. Oh well. I guess my hate of Benjamin Button is similar to Sean Nelson’s hate of Revolutionary Road.
In regards to Oscars: I think both Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet deserved Oscar nods for their performances.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Movie Review: Underwater: Rise of the Lycans
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. I didn’t know what to expect from this movie. I loved the first Underworld. I was so-so on the second. I must say I enjoyed this movie. Perhaps part of it was driven by the fact that after seeing movies like Doubt and Gran Torino it was time to see a non-serious movie. Is this the best of the trio? I can’t really say. I would need to see the other two on DVD again. I probably wouldn’t rank it up there with the first one.
It is a fun film with some nice fight scenes; though I remember the fight scenes in the first Underworld being cooler. Maybe that has something to do with guns versus swords and arrows.
I must admit wondering if the ancient days constantly had full moons so that werewolves could go out and hunt vampires every single night.
There are certain expects to the film that give token references to classic movie themes. You have the Romeo and Juliet romance between a vampire and a lycan. You have the power abusing the powerless. You have the powerless eventually rising up in revolt. These references are simple, easy to understand currents that form the movie’s storyline. Hardly Oscar worthy looks into these subjects, but who cares about watching a serious movie about vampires and lycans when there are actually other serious movies out there that you can watch instead. So yes, this is a lovely popcorn movie during the Oscar awards season.
Summary. There isn’t much to write about this movie. Nice action. Actors over-acting for the fun of it. A nice prequel.
It is a fun film with some nice fight scenes; though I remember the fight scenes in the first Underworld being cooler. Maybe that has something to do with guns versus swords and arrows.
I must admit wondering if the ancient days constantly had full moons so that werewolves could go out and hunt vampires every single night.
There are certain expects to the film that give token references to classic movie themes. You have the Romeo and Juliet romance between a vampire and a lycan. You have the power abusing the powerless. You have the powerless eventually rising up in revolt. These references are simple, easy to understand currents that form the movie’s storyline. Hardly Oscar worthy looks into these subjects, but who cares about watching a serious movie about vampires and lycans when there are actually other serious movies out there that you can watch instead. So yes, this is a lovely popcorn movie during the Oscar awards season.
Summary. There isn’t much to write about this movie. Nice action. Actors over-acting for the fun of it. A nice prequel.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Post Valentine's Blog: Rob Z night at El Cid
El Cid. We’ve all heard of El Cid, right? That’s where I was Wednesday night. It was a Rob Z night, Valentines from Venus: A Tribute to Women. It was one of those nights where it seemed that half of the people there knew each other, providing an interesting vibe to the night.
Chop Chop. They had a fill-in drummer who used an electronic drum set. Chop Chop has a low key sound to it, which made it interesting that the bass player wore a Metallica t-shirt. The bass player has a nice follow through while striking notes, it seemed like he was playing the bass like a piano. The lead singer has a nice voice. The lead singer apologized once or twice to her band mates for messing up a song and gave a pleasant laugh a number of times. I suspect this band has loads of fun during their practice sessions. I can’t help but think that at times they break out in laughter during their sessions.
Resonant Heads was up next. Sometimes you look at the band list for the night and recognize a specific band name, but can’t recall if you’ve seen that band before. This is how I felt regarding Resonant Heads. Once they were on stage, I did remember seeing this band before though I believe they had a different line-up at the time. I can’t recall when I saw them, but I believe it was at El Cid a couple years ago. The drummer is from this band called Virginia City Revival -- I’m not sure if this is still an active band or not. The lead singer was the same. There was also a fill-in for this band, as well, like with Chop Chop. Unlike for Chop Chop, I believe the person missing is missing for good and Resonant Heads is looking for a new band member. This is just speculation. I overheard a conversation, which seemed to imply that the missing individual had left the band for good. I could be wrong.
The final band was Vagina Revenge or better known as Bleeding Livers. This is a band that Rob Z fronts. It is actually a band comprised of members from two other bands. It is an all male band. Three of the guys were dressed in drag while the drummer was not. Hmm. The drummer did have a barrette in his hair. Mike on guitar actually looked sort of like Elaine Benes from Seinfeld. Interesting. Their set comprised of various songs from female musicians.
Chop Chop. They had a fill-in drummer who used an electronic drum set. Chop Chop has a low key sound to it, which made it interesting that the bass player wore a Metallica t-shirt. The bass player has a nice follow through while striking notes, it seemed like he was playing the bass like a piano. The lead singer has a nice voice. The lead singer apologized once or twice to her band mates for messing up a song and gave a pleasant laugh a number of times. I suspect this band has loads of fun during their practice sessions. I can’t help but think that at times they break out in laughter during their sessions.
Resonant Heads was up next. Sometimes you look at the band list for the night and recognize a specific band name, but can’t recall if you’ve seen that band before. This is how I felt regarding Resonant Heads. Once they were on stage, I did remember seeing this band before though I believe they had a different line-up at the time. I can’t recall when I saw them, but I believe it was at El Cid a couple years ago. The drummer is from this band called Virginia City Revival -- I’m not sure if this is still an active band or not. The lead singer was the same. There was also a fill-in for this band, as well, like with Chop Chop. Unlike for Chop Chop, I believe the person missing is missing for good and Resonant Heads is looking for a new band member. This is just speculation. I overheard a conversation, which seemed to imply that the missing individual had left the band for good. I could be wrong.
The final band was Vagina Revenge or better known as Bleeding Livers. This is a band that Rob Z fronts. It is actually a band comprised of members from two other bands. It is an all male band. Three of the guys were dressed in drag while the drummer was not. Hmm. The drummer did have a barrette in his hair. Mike on guitar actually looked sort of like Elaine Benes from Seinfeld. Interesting. Their set comprised of various songs from female musicians.
P.S. I guess El Cid changed management recently so it'll be interesting to see what changes occur.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Encounter with a car full of Jehovah's Witnesses
I was out exercising this morning, walking around my neighborhood. I was walking up a hillside road when a white Acura drove pass and then stopped alongside the road. There were three individuals inside the car and I saw them talking with each other. I figured they were lost and that I was about to be asked for directions. As I came up to the car, the driver came out -- dressed in a suit, likely in his 50s with a smile on his face. "So what street are they hoping to locate," I thought. The driver asked me a question, in Spanish, I believe. I said, "What?" He then said something like, "I have something here for you to read. It will help you in life." I looked down at his extended hand and saw a Jehovah's Witness pamphlet. I replied, "No thank you. Come on, dude, I'm exercising right now." He called after me as I continued walking, "You need to exercise your mind, as well."
I didn't look back. The first thought that came to my mind (admittedly not very Christian) was: Asshole. I wonder how many people Jehovah's Witnesses convert by stopping people in the middle of their exercise routines?
I didn't look back. The first thought that came to my mind (admittedly not very Christian) was: Asshole. I wonder how many people Jehovah's Witnesses convert by stopping people in the middle of their exercise routines?
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Duke v. North Carolina. An ouch moment
With the Pittsbugh Steelers’ Super Bowl victory now in the past, my attention turns to my next beloved sport, basketball. Yesterday, my two favorite teams lost. Duke lost to North Carolina. The Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Utah Jazz. Now the Lakers loss isn’t that bad. They’d won 7 straight. They beat Boston and Cleveland. Utah was the second game of a back to back. They were on the road. The only issue with the Lakers is that hopefully Bynum can come back before the play-offs starts. Now onto the Duke Blue Devils.
I hate to write this question: Is Duke any good this year? The top four teams in the ACC are Clemson, Duke, North Carolina and Wake Forest. Duke hasn’t beaten any of the top ACC teams. Two of these teams blew them out of the water. Okay, because I’m on the West Coast I don’t get to watch all the games (yes, if I was a TRUE fan, I'd TIVO the games and watch them later), but I can “watch” some of the games from work via the Internet. The Clemson game I didn’t get to see much of either over the Internet or on television, but I think the score speaks for itself: that was just pathetic. I did get to watch the last 10 minutes or so of the North Carolina game on ESPN. Duke was just over-matched. That is just my opinion, of course, and I’m admittedly just a arm chair expert in these matters. My next question is should Duke even rank in the top 20? If you can’t beat the best teams in your conference perhaps you shouldn’t be considered a top 20 team. Now there is still time for Duke to turn it around. They play both Wake Forest and North Carolina one more time and perhaps they’ll win those games. Maybe they’ll get some revenge against Clemson in the ACC Conference Tournament. Maybe I’m over-exaggerating the situation, but to me the situation looks dire. Even that vaunted Duke defense seems weak at the moment. To me, it is starting to look like another early exit out of March Madness. Sorry to say that. Now does that make me feel less inclined to cheer for Duke? No, I’m a Duke fan, but at the moment I don’t think a deep run into March is very likely.
I hate to write this question: Is Duke any good this year? The top four teams in the ACC are Clemson, Duke, North Carolina and Wake Forest. Duke hasn’t beaten any of the top ACC teams. Two of these teams blew them out of the water. Okay, because I’m on the West Coast I don’t get to watch all the games (yes, if I was a TRUE fan, I'd TIVO the games and watch them later), but I can “watch” some of the games from work via the Internet. The Clemson game I didn’t get to see much of either over the Internet or on television, but I think the score speaks for itself: that was just pathetic. I did get to watch the last 10 minutes or so of the North Carolina game on ESPN. Duke was just over-matched. That is just my opinion, of course, and I’m admittedly just a arm chair expert in these matters. My next question is should Duke even rank in the top 20? If you can’t beat the best teams in your conference perhaps you shouldn’t be considered a top 20 team. Now there is still time for Duke to turn it around. They play both Wake Forest and North Carolina one more time and perhaps they’ll win those games. Maybe they’ll get some revenge against Clemson in the ACC Conference Tournament. Maybe I’m over-exaggerating the situation, but to me the situation looks dire. Even that vaunted Duke defense seems weak at the moment. To me, it is starting to look like another early exit out of March Madness. Sorry to say that. Now does that make me feel less inclined to cheer for Duke? No, I’m a Duke fan, but at the moment I don’t think a deep run into March is very likely.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Silverlake Lounge: Local Natives
A friend suggested checking out Local Natives over at Silverlake Lounge. They are the residency band for February ‘09. My friend unfortunately had to cancel, but I decided to head on over anyways. First off, however, I had to watch the new episode of ”24” at home (which admittedly seems totally off topic). I wanted to catch the second band Dusty Rhodes and the River Band, as well, but I figured since they were the 10 p.m. band it meant they 
wouldn’t go on stage until 10:30 p.m. and so I could watch “24” without worries. I arrived at the Silverlake Lounge at around 10:20 p.m. and Dusty Rhodes was already on stage. Interesting. It seemed that the bands were playing on schedule Monday night, which I haven’t experienced in the past at Silverlake Lounge. Anyways, the place was packed. I did attempt to slowly make my way closer to the stage during Dusty Rhodes’ set, but I never made it more than halfway up. (So no photo evidence.) They’re a band in the folk-rock vain. From what I could tell one of the lead singers bounced around a lot. I enjoyed the music, the little I heard of it -- I think I probably caught half their set.
After they finished their set, there was this crowd shift of people heading away from the stage. I knew it was crowded, but for awhile there I was
wondering how many people were actually packed inside the bar. There was this organized stream of people moving away from the stage while another stream moved towards the stage. It almost felt like an orchestrated agreement between people at the front and those in the rear: we were up front for Dustry Rhodes and now we’ll move to the back so that you all in the back can now see Local Natives up close.
I headed up front.
While upfront I over-heard some conversations. After I got into Silverlake Lounge a line apparently formed outside. One young lady complained about being stuck outside for 20 minutes. Another woman was talking about how she booked bands at various locations.
Local Natives started their set at 11 p.m. on the dot. Once again, I couldn’t help but find this interesting since the last few times I’d gone to Silverlake Lounge, the bands always started 30 minutes late. Of course, the last time I was at Silverlake Lounge was back in September so maybe the world has changed in five months.
This, of course, was the first time I’d seen Local Natives. I had no clue what to expect. All I knew was that my friend suggested that we check out this band. Considering Dusty Rhodes, I was rather sure that Local Natives
wasn’t a punk band or heavy metal band. They are a six piece band, though their myspace page seems to indicate a five piece band. An additional face is their violinist. Here are my thoughts on this band. Awesome folk-rock. Midway through the set I could not help but think the following: there is a transition point between jazz and rock, and Local Natives fits right at that transition point. I love how for one song two of the band members switched instruments. (I haven’t written a review of Whispertown2000, but this band also rotates instruments – actually more so than Local Natives.) There was a row of young beautiful people right in front of the band, two of them were singing along during much of the set. On occasion, this band goes wild, not wild in a crazy antics way, but wild in the sense that they suddenly get this momentary jam session feel where everyone is having the time of their lives. The band invited up a couple guest musicians. The violinist from Dusty Rhodes came up for a dueling violinist battle. They also invited up a percussionist who took up double duties on the drum set. I was standing a little too close to the side of the stage at times and was worried that the bass player was going to give me a black eye. When I had that feeling, I would back up just a bit. I am an analytical person. Towards the end of the set something dawned on me. This band was situation in a triangle shape. Three band members up front, two in the middle and the drummer in the back.
With that, I left and walked through the cold night air. It was seriously cold. I just had to mention that. Cold for Los Angeles, of course.
wouldn’t go on stage until 10:30 p.m. and so I could watch “24” without worries. I arrived at the Silverlake Lounge at around 10:20 p.m. and Dusty Rhodes was already on stage. Interesting. It seemed that the bands were playing on schedule Monday night, which I haven’t experienced in the past at Silverlake Lounge. Anyways, the place was packed. I did attempt to slowly make my way closer to the stage during Dusty Rhodes’ set, but I never made it more than halfway up. (So no photo evidence.) They’re a band in the folk-rock vain. From what I could tell one of the lead singers bounced around a lot. I enjoyed the music, the little I heard of it -- I think I probably caught half their set.
After they finished their set, there was this crowd shift of people heading away from the stage. I knew it was crowded, but for awhile there I was
wondering how many people were actually packed inside the bar. There was this organized stream of people moving away from the stage while another stream moved towards the stage. It almost felt like an orchestrated agreement between people at the front and those in the rear: we were up front for Dustry Rhodes and now we’ll move to the back so that you all in the back can now see Local Natives up close.I headed up front.
While upfront I over-heard some conversations. After I got into Silverlake Lounge a line apparently formed outside. One young lady complained about being stuck outside for 20 minutes. Another woman was talking about how she booked bands at various locations.
Local Natives started their set at 11 p.m. on the dot. Once again, I couldn’t help but find this interesting since the last few times I’d gone to Silverlake Lounge, the bands always started 30 minutes late. Of course, the last time I was at Silverlake Lounge was back in September so maybe the world has changed in five months.
This, of course, was the first time I’d seen Local Natives. I had no clue what to expect. All I knew was that my friend suggested that we check out this band. Considering Dusty Rhodes, I was rather sure that Local Natives
wasn’t a punk band or heavy metal band. They are a six piece band, though their myspace page seems to indicate a five piece band. An additional face is their violinist. Here are my thoughts on this band. Awesome folk-rock. Midway through the set I could not help but think the following: there is a transition point between jazz and rock, and Local Natives fits right at that transition point. I love how for one song two of the band members switched instruments. (I haven’t written a review of Whispertown2000, but this band also rotates instruments – actually more so than Local Natives.) There was a row of young beautiful people right in front of the band, two of them were singing along during much of the set. On occasion, this band goes wild, not wild in a crazy antics way, but wild in the sense that they suddenly get this momentary jam session feel where everyone is having the time of their lives. The band invited up a couple guest musicians. The violinist from Dusty Rhodes came up for a dueling violinist battle. They also invited up a percussionist who took up double duties on the drum set. I was standing a little too close to the side of the stage at times and was worried that the bass player was going to give me a black eye. When I had that feeling, I would back up just a bit. I am an analytical person. Towards the end of the set something dawned on me. This band was situation in a triangle shape. Three band members up front, two in the middle and the drummer in the back.With that, I left and walked through the cold night air. It was seriously cold. I just had to mention that. Cold for Los Angeles, of course.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
One Mile Radius Project in Hollywood
A church I attend (I tend to skip around various churches so this isn't the only church I go to) has a new project. The project is to see how the church can have a positive impact to the community. The area around the church is defined as a one mile radius. (The definition of impact, doesn't mean converting people to Christianity, but instead means meeting the economic, social, etc needs of the community.) A number of small groups went around Hollywood this weekend, making observations about the area around the church. I tagged around with one group that was given the section shown in the below map. Sorry for the really sad line borders, but I'm no expert in blogging and graphics. Anyways, the section we surveyed was a block the included Vine St to the west, Sunset Blvd to the north, Bronson Ave to the east and Santa Monica Blvd to the south.
For only being a small section of this one mile radius project, the area we surveyed was rather diverse. The below pictures are of Santa Monica Blvd, the south side of our survey. To a large extent it is a rather forgettable section of Santa Monica. A couple car wash businesses. Old office buildings, many of which have tenants of third rate entertainment companies. (Third rate, I'm guessing. My ranking, first rate I say are the major movie studios.) There are a couple interesting highlights. On the south side of Santa Monica (which technically was outside our zone) is the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Also on this street is (I'm assuming) the Los Angeles headquarters for Suicide Girls. If anyone looks through the LA Weekly entertainment listings, you've probably noticed the Suicide Girls -- a goth, punk, young girl outfit that I believe used to have a show on Indie 103.1 and does various shows at Los Angeles music venues.
The below pictures are of Vine St, the western most part of our survey area. I'm again cheating to a degree as the photo of the pawn shop and the Sunset+Vine apartment complex are technically not in our survey area. Vine is getting built up. Awhile back, Vine didn't have the best reputation as a street, but it has improved. What is interesting about this street is that there are two worlds here. On the southern part of Vine (the survey section of Vine, of course) you have a pawn shop and a Goodwill store. So obviously this area still services the needs of the poor and down-and-out. The northern part of Vine is where the well-to-do, Hollywood types hang out. In the Sunset+Vine photo, you can see the cranes, which is where the W Hotel is getting built. If you know the area, you also know that the Arclight is nearby. Interesting contrast.
Sunset Blvd is the northern portion of the survey area. I'd say this section of Sunset is on the edge of the revival area. You have the condo/apartment tower that is being built. (Actually, I believe construction has stopped due to the economic conditions.) You also have a Nickelodeon studio. The further east you go, you'll see a Rite Aid and Denny's. I think the further you go away from Vine, the less Hollywood it gets and you start to run into more of the homeless.
The eastern border is Bronson. This is an interesting street. It is a street that highlights gentrification. The first photo is of a condo complex (assumed). If it is a small condo complex, you know those condos sold for more than $500K. If these are rentals, you are likely looking at $2,000+ a month rents. The second and third pictures have an interesting look of a couple recently build apartments or condos next to a house that looks bordered up. At the end of Bronson is a props shop. With the housing market as it is, gentrification on this street will likely end. The question is will gentrification on this street re-start at some point. Will developers buy up some of these houses and build high end apartments/condos at some point?
The following pictures are of the interior section of our survey area. You'll notice that there is a rather new looking school. This section of Hollywood isn't being ignored by the City Council. Parts of the interior isn't the best neighborhoods. It might be hard to tell, but the next two photos of houses provides you an image of homes that are run down and lawns that just don't look picture perfect. Look closely at the third photo. There is a black burn mark on the garage door. This is something that could easily be fixed, painted over; but is being left as is.
I'd say that the interior of this area is broken into two sections. Fountain Ave is a semi-major street that goes from east to west. I'd say to the south of Fountain you have an area that is poor. To the north-west, you have an area that is middle class. To the north-east, you have some poor areas surrounded by some studios -- Gower Studio. In the area below, I didn't take photos of it, but you had graffiti markings on buildings. People live behind gates, window bars, metal doors.
As mentioned, the north-west portion of this area is rather middle class. The first photo is of a couple apartment and/or condo complexes that look new. Across the street in the second photo are a number of older apartment buildings. Compare these apartment buildings with the photos of the houses above. The houses and apartments were likely built around the same time, but don't the apartments look well maintained compared to those homes? And doesn't the third photo below feel tranquil? One person mentioned that this section probably is better kept due to the Hollywood Community Hospital nearby. We speculated that perhaps this is where some of those working at the hospital live. If true, you have nurses, interns and administrators living in this area so you have a middle class section here.
This last photo is of the Gower Studios. There obviously is a lot of Hollywood Industry buildings in this area.
It is hard to say anything about the neighborhood without doing a random survey of the residents, but here are some thoughts.
1. A very concentrated area. A lot of apartments, condos and small homes (many of the homes being craftsman houses).
2. Latino majority. Likely a decent minority of whites. I did see a few blacks walking around. If the condo/apartment tower on Sunset eventually gets finished, you'll see a high concentration of upper-middle class Hollywood types move in. (Sunset+Vine apartment complex is obviously already filled with this group, but is technically outside our survey area -- though part of another group's.)
3. South of Fountain is poor.
4. North-west section is middle class.
5. A number of entertainment businesses.
6. Some gentrification on Bronson.
7. Likely minor gang problems. The area felt safe enough to walk around, but I suspect there are certain houses and apartments that are gang occupied. I personally wouldn't even think about renting in some of the apartment complexes in this area.
8. Major streets surround the area. Sunset, Gower, Santa Monica. I suspect Fountain gets busy at night. I know I use this street sometimes when I want to avoid traffic on Sunset.
9. With all the apartments, this is probably a transient neighborhood, but with a sizable minority that has lived in the area for years.
10. This is a physically connected section. The 101 Freeway does not run through this area. Admittedly, Gower sort of splits the community east and west. I wouldn't say Fountain creates another split. Gower doesn't have a series of stop signs or stop lights, while Fountain has many stop signs. It physical area is also flat.
For only being a small section of this one mile radius project, the area we surveyed was rather diverse. The below pictures are of Santa Monica Blvd, the south side of our survey. To a large extent it is a rather forgettable section of Santa Monica. A couple car wash businesses. Old office buildings, many of which have tenants of third rate entertainment companies. (Third rate, I'm guessing. My ranking, first rate I say are the major movie studios.) There are a couple interesting highlights. On the south side of Santa Monica (which technically was outside our zone) is the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Also on this street is (I'm assuming) the Los Angeles headquarters for Suicide Girls. If anyone looks through the LA Weekly entertainment listings, you've probably noticed the Suicide Girls -- a goth, punk, young girl outfit that I believe used to have a show on Indie 103.1 and does various shows at Los Angeles music venues.
The below pictures are of Vine St, the western most part of our survey area. I'm again cheating to a degree as the photo of the pawn shop and the Sunset+Vine apartment complex are technically not in our survey area. Vine is getting built up. Awhile back, Vine didn't have the best reputation as a street, but it has improved. What is interesting about this street is that there are two worlds here. On the southern part of Vine (the survey section of Vine, of course) you have a pawn shop and a Goodwill store. So obviously this area still services the needs of the poor and down-and-out. The northern part of Vine is where the well-to-do, Hollywood types hang out. In the Sunset+Vine photo, you can see the cranes, which is where the W Hotel is getting built. If you know the area, you also know that the Arclight is nearby. Interesting contrast.
Sunset Blvd is the northern portion of the survey area. I'd say this section of Sunset is on the edge of the revival area. You have the condo/apartment tower that is being built. (Actually, I believe construction has stopped due to the economic conditions.) You also have a Nickelodeon studio. The further east you go, you'll see a Rite Aid and Denny's. I think the further you go away from Vine, the less Hollywood it gets and you start to run into more of the homeless.
The eastern border is Bronson. This is an interesting street. It is a street that highlights gentrification. The first photo is of a condo complex (assumed). If it is a small condo complex, you know those condos sold for more than $500K. If these are rentals, you are likely looking at $2,000+ a month rents. The second and third pictures have an interesting look of a couple recently build apartments or condos next to a house that looks bordered up. At the end of Bronson is a props shop. With the housing market as it is, gentrification on this street will likely end. The question is will gentrification on this street re-start at some point. Will developers buy up some of these houses and build high end apartments/condos at some point?
The following pictures are of the interior section of our survey area. You'll notice that there is a rather new looking school. This section of Hollywood isn't being ignored by the City Council. Parts of the interior isn't the best neighborhoods. It might be hard to tell, but the next two photos of houses provides you an image of homes that are run down and lawns that just don't look picture perfect. Look closely at the third photo. There is a black burn mark on the garage door. This is something that could easily be fixed, painted over; but is being left as is.
I'd say that the interior of this area is broken into two sections. Fountain Ave is a semi-major street that goes from east to west. I'd say to the south of Fountain you have an area that is poor. To the north-west, you have an area that is middle class. To the north-east, you have some poor areas surrounded by some studios -- Gower Studio. In the area below, I didn't take photos of it, but you had graffiti markings on buildings. People live behind gates, window bars, metal doors.
As mentioned, the north-west portion of this area is rather middle class. The first photo is of a couple apartment and/or condo complexes that look new. Across the street in the second photo are a number of older apartment buildings. Compare these apartment buildings with the photos of the houses above. The houses and apartments were likely built around the same time, but don't the apartments look well maintained compared to those homes? And doesn't the third photo below feel tranquil? One person mentioned that this section probably is better kept due to the Hollywood Community Hospital nearby. We speculated that perhaps this is where some of those working at the hospital live. If true, you have nurses, interns and administrators living in this area so you have a middle class section here.
This last photo is of the Gower Studios. There obviously is a lot of Hollywood Industry buildings in this area.
It is hard to say anything about the neighborhood without doing a random survey of the residents, but here are some thoughts.
1. A very concentrated area. A lot of apartments, condos and small homes (many of the homes being craftsman houses).
2. Latino majority. Likely a decent minority of whites. I did see a few blacks walking around. If the condo/apartment tower on Sunset eventually gets finished, you'll see a high concentration of upper-middle class Hollywood types move in. (Sunset+Vine apartment complex is obviously already filled with this group, but is technically outside our survey area -- though part of another group's.)
3. South of Fountain is poor.
4. North-west section is middle class.
5. A number of entertainment businesses.
6. Some gentrification on Bronson.
7. Likely minor gang problems. The area felt safe enough to walk around, but I suspect there are certain houses and apartments that are gang occupied. I personally wouldn't even think about renting in some of the apartment complexes in this area.
8. Major streets surround the area. Sunset, Gower, Santa Monica. I suspect Fountain gets busy at night. I know I use this street sometimes when I want to avoid traffic on Sunset.
9. With all the apartments, this is probably a transient neighborhood, but with a sizable minority that has lived in the area for years.
10. This is a physically connected section. The 101 Freeway does not run through this area. Admittedly, Gower sort of splits the community east and west. I wouldn't say Fountain creates another split. Gower doesn't have a series of stop signs or stop lights, while Fountain has many stop signs. It physical area is also flat.
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