Hmm... how can I generate more capital off of people? I know! I'll cash in on their grief and their shallow attachment to consumerism! How about this: because I know you love Precious Moments figurines so much, when you die, you can be buried in a casket that's branded with the Precious Moments® logo! Or your cremains can be preserved in a ( Read more... )

There are certain olfactory woes experienced when a single bathroom is shared by the entire floor of an office building ( Read more... )

My good friend Dennis works near me in Glendale now, so all is well with the world, or at least infinitesimal parts of it.

He's just introduced me to Billy's on Orange Street. Billy's is the Greatest Deli of All Time, like I just promised you.* I've seen it before: it's tucked between a multilevel parking garage and an empty storefront that used ( Read more... )

So I've got a MySpace account, yes ( Read more... )

Went to the Hollywood Bowl last night to see Underworld. Paul Oakenfold with Carmen Rizzo opened for them, which should give you an idea of how big and respectable Underworld was in the '90s.

A most excellent show. A little light on the visuals, I thought, since they're well known for Tomato graphics playing across huge screens, and the Bowl is ( Read more... )

... Without pictures of New York.

Something I heard on KPFK Pacifica Radio: the Mayor's Office of Theater, Film and Broadcasting is responsible for issuing permits for filming. They're considering new rules (without having first a public discourse) that would severely limit one's ability to actually FILM in New York.

The details are at the website .. ( Read more... )

So I'm at some fairly mainstream restaurant in Glendale, sitting in a booth and enjoying my solitary repast. Three women enter, and are seated behind me. So far this is perfectly acceptable.

The problem with this is that one of them spoke.

Oh, not to me or anything. No, she merely spoke. This is bad because this woman has the most nasal, the most ( Read more... )

The phrase "fuck Olive Garden" in quotes yields 126 results on Google.

I'm adding to that tally.

Since my two sisters and I live in Ventura, Moorpark and Silver Lake respectively, we tend to conduct family gatherings in the (hot, dry, dusty-ass) Valley, at chain restaurants. This means we're at BJ's or Olive Garden or some other comfortably vanilla ( Read more... )

A year ago I met my eighteen-year-old son for the first time.

He's now nineteen, freshly returned from Costa Rica, actually sunburnt, and happily e-mailing Bianca back and forth.

I'm still tripping over the concept of Father's Day applying to me.


( Read more... )

You might recall my diatribe about the plaques across the street. If you don't, scroll down two or three entries.

But here's something else fun:


( Read more... )