Excellent Asians.

They filmed the Asian Excellence Awards at Royce on Wednesday. I won't reveal any of the winners since they don't air until May 1st, but I don't think you care about that anyways. Let's just go through a quick run-through of the random people who were there, starting with Kenny G. What? Then there were a ton of reality TV folks (most of whom I wouldn't know if I hadn't read the program): some American Idol girl named Ramiele, JabbaWockeez, Cheryl Burke, Cristian de la Fuente, Carrie Ann Inaba, Karina Smirnoff, and Tia Carrere (who sang two Hawaiian songs and was really uninteresting). And the folks that someone once cared about and have now become reality TV folks: Ian Ziering, Daisy Fuentes, oh yeah-Vern Troyer. And then the so-called celebrities other people were excited about but whom I had never heard of: Rex Lee (Entourage?), the guy who (co-?)invented YouTube, and so many more. Sonja Sohn, of the Wire, gave a pretty intense speech about how it was 'about time' and great that the Asian community was accepting of the mixed race folk. This speech went on for quite some time. B.D. Wong who plays the psychologist (I think) on Law and Order: SVU! I don't even like this show but anything even semi-related to Law and Order has the potential of making work just slightly less boring. heh. Also, a very disheveled Quentin Tarantino. People who are awesome: Kristi Yamaguchi (so skinny! so short! pretty dress).

A great moment: we didn't let Three Six Mafia into the VIP reception cause of a lack of tickets to the VIP reception, only to get the oh-so-funny "You don't know who they are?!?!" There was also one guy from the Black Eyed Peas.Also, three pageant queens were there. "Miss LA Chinatown"'s crown was perhaps a foot tall. It was beyond absurd, especially for a winner of not even a city's pageant, just a section of a city's pageant.

Finally, !!! Mr. Iron Chef America Chairman Mark Dacascos said hi to me and my fellow usher and started walking away before he turned around and came back to shake our hands and tell me I "have a great smile." awww.

"painted over like a mezzuzah on a Boyle Heights doorway"

Dear Dad,
Please follow through on our agreement which was brokered over the Afikoman. You got the matzah; I get a car.
Thanks,
Laura

P.S. The title of this post is quote from Culture Clash's 'radio play' excerpt about Chavez Ravine from the Ash Grove 50th Anniversary show night one at Royce Hall this past Friday.

Venn Diagram

So, it sucks to be sick.

This, on the other hand, is awesome. Two of my photos in the "Seven Reasons LA is the Best" post on LAist. yay!

Where do these two meet? Being sick makes me sit around and do nothing--otherwise known as adding pictures to my flickr account.

Transportation Dunce Cap!

This view from the Wilshire RapidBus is pretty great--could have so much heavy-handed metaphor in this but will leave it out (although I already put some of it in the title).

A little biographical information.

Old superpatriotic movies make me teary-eyed, especially ones starring Gary Cooper. I like that about myself. I am not as much of a fan of Cary Grant, although I like him quite a bit. Bogart's okay, don't like Clark Gable. I do like William Powell. Gotta love Joel McRea. David Niven is second to none but James Stewart. Oh yeah, can't forget John Payne. Yes, Payne, not Wayne.

Basically, this is here because I removed it from my facebook profile but didn't want to delete it entirely.

Also, some new colors on this here blog. Wooooo!

Dine & Dance

dining and dancing of a different kind. Portland, OR.

Ex-LAT dance critic Lewis Segal went to see La La La Human Steps at Royce tonight. Which made me kinda sad. (also weird that I recognized him). Not that I ever read any sort of dance criticism in LAT or otherwise. Which made me feel kinda fake.

In other news, I started a new blog tonight, "I like to eat on Pico Blvd." Real posts will start soon.

A Metaphor.

Steve Wiebe is the Brian Wilson of Donkey Kong.

I thought you were famous, but actually you are just incredibly attractive.

I kinda agree with this, but also think Zev needs to stop making excuses. On the subject of newspapers, I am going to take this opportunity to provide you with a few more sentences from The Long Goodbye which made me think a lot about Sam Zell--not that he would be saying these sentences at all, except maybe the first one.

I own newspapers, but I don't like them. I regard them as a constant menace to whatever privacy we have left. Their constant yelping about a free press means, with a few honourable exceptions, freedom to peddle scandal, crime, sex, sensationalism, hate, innuendo, and the political and financial uses of propaganda. A newspaper is a business out to make money through advertising revenue. That is predicated on its circulation and you know what the circulation depends on.

Now, as promised, here's the Royce Celebrity Update (TM). Daryl Hannah, lookin' mighty Botoxed and Cocaineoxed, Tom Morello, and the guy who hosts Survivor were in attendance at the Steve Earle show on the 25th. There was also a man which inspired a fellow usher to state the sentence which has become this post's title. Tonight--er, yesterday--Amy Brenneman and Maria Bello showed up to see Anne Lamott and Elizabeth Gilbert (the author of a book Erica and Oprah like). This show was almost unbelievably sold out, but a lot of people didn't show up after buying tickets. Also, the majority of this crowd, a supermajority even, were middle-aged women; perhaps, 40% were bottle blondes. yeech.

Even though this picture was taken in Colorado in December, I am oh so sure these women would have flown in to see the "conversation" tonight. By the way, please do notice that the four women are all wearing THE EXACT SAME THING.

I am Scared of Spring Break.

The usual scene.

Last night, I left work at midnight. There was not one other person when I walked to my apartment. eeek! The campus was so eerie. Usually there are at least tens of people around campus at that time. Dancing, even! But there weren't even any people walking around the apartments either. creepy spring break!

There were some fun/noonereallycares celebz at the show, which I will get to in a later post.

In other news, I finally went to Mashti Malone's yesterday and it was delicious!

A "Long Goodbye" to the "Time Lady"

The sun has set (on Sunset) for the Time Lady.

You can't hear this mechanical voice anymore. AT&T stopped offering this service at the end of last year. According to NPR, a recording of the voice of the last "Time Lady," Joanne Daniels, will be put in the Smithsonian! I would link you the audio but I can't find it. Instead, I'll point you to this article that cheesily proclaims, "Time has run out on the Time Lady." The service started in the 1940s but was obviously already well known enough to be referenced by Raymond Chandler in 1953 in The Long Goodbye, a book I highly recommend.

And when she spoke her voice had the lucid emptiness of that mechanical voice on the telephone that tells you the time, and if you keep listening, which people don't because they have no reason to, it will keep on telling you the passing seconds for ever, without the slightest change of inflection.

As someone said, Layla Hey Dad!

'honey, what are you wearing?!'

Dear Royce Hall patrons,

Please be advised: Dressing 'thematically' is unacceptable. A 'world' show is not license for absurd dress. We appreciate your enthusiasm, but a push-up bra, a fake coin necklace, and a bindi on your forehead does not make you seem more authentic. You would not wear this anywhere else so why wear it here? Plus, you are totally mixing up your nationalities.

Proceed Cautiously,
Laura

Presidents and Bad Facial Hair

Another series of letters.

So close to a flying V!

Dear Emilio Estevez and Martin Sheen,

You are such a fantastic father and son pair, and, as you age, you look more and more alike. Seeing you yesterday made me think of triumphs of both the presidential and water bird kinds. I hope you enjoyed the show.

You are both mighty,
Laura (Quack, Quack, Quack, Quack!)

This picture was taken in 2005, because I couldn't find my camera charger in time to bring it to Wednesday's show.

Dear Ira Elliot,

I am such a fan of yours. How grand it is that you are named after Ira Gershwin; such a nice Jewish name (although I don't think you are Jewish, are you?). I am also a great fan of your band. But, how come you had to go from being an attractive 43yearoldmanwholookslikehes35 to a 45 year old man with creepster facial hair? Tsk tsk. Still, you are rad.

Still a fan,
Laura


Dear Nada Surf,

You are so good live. Thanks for playing mostly old songs.

Kudos,
Laura

What an analogy!

Also, read this.

Don't rightly know, Child. Don't rightly know.

I should either be studying or sleeping. As I am doing neither, I might as well be blogging. I just finished Sergeant York, which stars Gary Cooper.

As some background information, you should know I have a big place in my heart for Gary Cooper, although not as big a place as I've got for Jimmy Stewart. I also am incredibly inclined to love old patriotic films. I was born close to 4th of July and I've always been quite the patriot in some ways. Additionally, I am a huge fan of American Dream movies, as long as they were made several decades ago. Also usually love those Capra morality tales. With these stipulations in mind, you can bet correctly that I love all the films you are thinking of. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington? Definitely. Yankee Doodle Dandy? Oh, it made me weep! The Spirit of St. Louis? Tremendous! et cetera, et cetera. I also really love prison movies, but that's another post.

Well, it turns out, I didn't love Sergeant York. Very surprising, indeed. I am not exactly sure why I didn't think it was grand. hmmmmm. On the other hand, the actual story of Alvin Cullum York is remarkable and fascinating. And it is also pretty grand that York refused to authorize a film version of his biography unless Gary Cooper would play him. Pretty solid taste, I say.

Gary Cooper is certainly better lookin' than the real York.

Sorry the above picture is sideways. I am too lazy to fix that right now. It's (probably obviously) a picture of the tv. heh. From an odd but enjoyable film, It's a Big Country.

Roommates and Supertramps

Sometimes I wonder if my roommate thinks I am as crazy for watching so much Murder, She Wrote and Law & Order as I think she is for watching so many Lifetime Movie Network and what I like to call Judge Phil (Judge Judy, the People's Court, and Dr. Phil).

I know dandelions are, but I am have no idea about this pretty tree.

In other news, I am in the process of (intermittently) reviewing my notes for tomorrow's biogeography final. My professor, by the way, is basically David Hasselhoff as a lacrosse athlete who for some reason ended up studying geography in China. Anyways, several weeks ago we learned about "supertramps"--species that spread widely and easily. Oh, Professor Zackey!

Edit: Upon some quick googling, it turns out that the "supertramp" was coined by the one and only Jared Diamond, the UCLA professor who makes his students write essays to get into his classes. According to Wikipedia:

The name was coined by Jared Diamond in 1974, as an allusion to both the itinerant lifestyle of the tramp, and the then-popular band Supertramp.

This is kinda hilarious.

Holiday Inn

No, not the hotel chain, but the movie, obvs! My favorite Christmas movie has great songs for a bunch of holidays. On this St. Patrick's Day (although officially St. Patrick's Day was moved to the 15th this year, fyi), I'll provide you with a fabulous song&dance number from the movie unrelated to any holiday, because St. Patrick's Day was not in the movie. The following clip really shows off Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire's specialties. And, it's just really cute.

The way you sing don't mean a thing
You'd better stick to your dance
And as for you, your dance won't do
You'll have to sing for romance

Hitchcock once said, "Self-Plagiarism is Style"

So it's time to resume the letter writing.


Dear KCRW card,

Please develop some way of notifying me that you are useful in particular establishments. I was going through your guide this evening and got very sad about the amount of money I didn't save in my several years of owning you.

Hopefully,
Laura

rolling with the Holm(i)es

So, apparently Angela Lansbury was at Royce on Thursday and nobody bothered telling me until today. A little late, no? Angela Lansbury!!! Man, she is as good a mystery solver as Sherlock Holmes, I am sure. And then of course there is the inimitable Bedknobs and Broomsticks. She perhaps would have been my fav Royce celeb; too bad I wasn't there! boooooooo.

In other Murder, She Wrote (MSW) news: I am almost at a point in my MSW watching career in which I can claim that actors from all my favorite shows have had guest roles on MSW. This weekend I have watched two episodes with some rad folks. Kevin Tighe, of Emergency!, played Lt. Moynihan in the 1990 episode, "How to Make a Killing Without Even Trying" and Martin Milner, of Adam-12, played Sheriff Bodine in the 1985 episode, "Reflections of the Mind." Adam-12 was one of the most technically accurate police dramas, by the way, and AMAZING. Earlier posts have explained previous appearances by Ellery Queen stars, but I don't know yet if I have seen any Hogan's Heroes crossovers (Although Bob Crane was once on an episode of Ellery Queen entitled "The Hard-Hearted Huckster"--what a great title, right?). That's what I am waiting for.

On a side note, I am beginning a collection of photos of those stamps in the sidewalk. Does anyone know what they are called exactly? This one above is taken on a street that is perpendicular to Echo Park Lake, if I remember correctly.

Edit: I didn't remember correctly. This one was somewhere in Koreatown.

Opera Dictator's Paradise

Is it just me, or is "Paul Potts" too eerily similar to "Pol Pot" in name? Perhaps this is just what happens when I see "Paul Potts reflects on his journey from mobile salesman to opera star." as the main headline on yahoo when I go to check my email after spending the weekend reading Golden Gulag, a terrificly depressing book about California as THE INCARCERAL STATE . yeech. (But, I am proud of myself for finishing a book before the final, for once. Fin=added to the list to the right!).

This afternoon at work I scanned Mr. Ron Howard's ticket to a screening of the classic silent film Safety Last with live organ accompaniment. While our entire interaction consisted of some electronic bar code reading and some "Hello"s and "Enjoy the Show," I must say he is a genuinely adorable man in his baseball cap and reddish hair. I then realized that I can't think of one movie he's helmed that I've seen. I do enjoy me some Happy Days, though.

Roy thinks of hearts and livers and brains when he thinks organs.

HOWEVER, what was more interesting about this show is that COOLIO was supposed to come, as a guest of weirdo organist Christoph Bull, nonetheless. gangsta Coolio, yo. See, we get the will call tickets once the box office closes up and there was an envelope with tickets for him. While I was super excited about the prospect of Coolio attending a silent film, I then realized I don't think I would be able to confidently identify him. This did, however, give me the opportunity to regale my fellow ushers with tales of the hilarious Cooking With Coolio. Oh, wow.

The ghetto witchdoctor superstar chef is here to make you forget about every cooking show you've ever heard. Get your tomatoes, your mozzarella, a little balsamic, and get your ass into that kitchen, baby.

The Leak Stops Here!

LA Weekly informs me that one of my favorite signs has been gone for months! How oblivious I have suddenly become. I took this picture in 2006.