Weather Report for 10/03/08

Outside, unpredictable.

Food for thought: BBQ chicken wrap. decent, not spectacular.

"On my vacation, I caught a tornado!"

Have your own pet twister! Book your tornado chasing vacation here: Extreme Tornado Tours

Record Player

Thanks to Lorenzo's resurging love for analog, he bought a record player. His purchase inspired me to bring out my record player which hasn't been touched for a year. And I can't see how I lived without it. The turntable is older than me and was given to me along with its fellow components by my father. Altogether, the system was loved by my father during his college years until today here in my living room.

There's a certain listening pleasure that comes from listening to old records. Not only do I embrace the imperfections in the sound, but I love the human interaction of having to flip the records and anticipating its conclusion. The neverending music on an Ipod just doesn't seem huggable.

Currently rotating: Stevie Wonder's Innervisions and The Velvet Underground

Tina Fey, you weren't that funny tonight.

Spontaneous Tuesday: The Olive Garden!

Allow me to elaborate. On certain days during our routine and predictable lives, my friends (or bandidos, as I prefer) decide to indulge in anything our heart desires.

For example the last Spontaneous Tuesday was two years ago. One of us had one of those heart wrenching days. We all got together. Eventually after several undisclosed strange events, we conducted a science experiment: which is faster "shotgunning" or "chugging"? Needless to say, we all painfully woke up the next morning in a room scattered with many Giant Pocky wrappers. The collection of inside jokes was well worth it. Anyway, you get the gist that anything our minds conjure up may just happen.

Lorenzo's dinnertime cravings always seem like a chance for adventure. (For some reason, he hasn't turned on his gas in his apartment for a year now, thus crippling his stove and therefore, his frugal eating habits) Thanks to modern technology, we were able to mobilize our magnificent seven to the nearest ... Olive Garden. In Burbank. While some may consider all you can eat pasta death defying, it ranks fairly low on the richter scale of adrenaline and will probably never become topic of a reality show. Not to mention that Burbank is hardly the setting for something "extraordinary". We sit down at what looks like a dining room in a rustic cabin. Neverending pasta bowls take over our table. It's lovely how food brings people together. After our stomachs reached maximum capacity, on the way home, Mike notices a Krispy Kreme. Instantly, Nathan makes screeching tires turn into their drive-thru and orders "1 dozen assorted, please!"

Nights like these always remind me of what brings us together. Before it may have been our uncontrollable taste for alcohol and mayhem, now it is pure, assorted, butter-drenched, cheese sprinkled, never-ending gluttony with sausage on the side. All for the sake of having a reliable group of 7 to call whenever you really want or need something.


Photo from Lorenzo's Blog

Pollution Cloud

20 x 20, acrylic on canvas
From the private collection of Timothy Kendall

I might've painted this one while I was hungry. Several of the paintings I did around the same time share a theme of ingestion.

Ridge Residence, Brentwood, CA

Cool house near Mandeville Canyon featured on the LA Architecture Tour. Designed by Nicholas Budd Dutton

From Curbed LA

Larissa Bates' "Hustle and Muscle"

Got a taste for the boys in tight shorts? It really is like watching the debates, only fun! Enjoy! (it's a silent film)

The film is currently screening at the Monya Rowe Gallery in New York.

Stupid Non-Shoes

"Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months" -- Oscar Wilde

Thanks, Cher

City and Weather Patterns

Here are a few from my new series of paintings. They are inspired by my experiences in these cities. I don't really get to explain myself when they're on a wall, but I will here.


"I hate snow/Chicago, IL" 8 x 12, acrylic on canvas *SOLD

This piece is inspired by my last trip to Chicago. It was right after the worst winter storm the locals had seen in years. Being a city mouse and an Angeleno, snow was not my friend. It felt dirty and reminded me of frozen spit. I have yet to see powder like snow. Some of the icons are symbolic. The wedding cake is in memory of KariAnn and Brandon's wedding, the Bean is my favorite Chicago landmark, I'd seen manatees at the aquarium.


"Portland, OR" 8 x 12, acrylic on canvas

I had visited Portland, OR when I was trying to figure out what direction I wanted to go career wise. Beforehand, I believed my love for LA had expired. Oddly enough, there was a heatwave in the area. No clouds until the last day of my stay. The thunderbolts however represent not only the last and most characteristic day of my visit, but also of all the ideas that were inspired there. Some icons of note: exit sign because I considered Portland to be a "way out", ice cream since it was my staple food during my stay.


"Los Angeles, CA" 8 x 12, acrylic on canvas

Ah, Los Angeles. It's important for people to understand that there is a lot of great stuff beyond the brown smog and media garbage of LA. Once you get through, there's plenty to love.

Weather Report for 9/29

Outside it is cloudy with a chance for thunderstorms. I will still walk to the grocery store.


For lunch: the Food Network

XKCD and my love for science-coolness

The brainiacs at XKCD have a great talent for putting a smile on my face. Their webcomic fuses science and humor, a lethal combination in my book. They pride themselves in their ability to interweave romance, sarcasm, math and language. Fantastic!

Thanks, Newton

My New Pattern of Bohemia

Like many others, my career has been effected by the weakened economy. Weeks have passed without paychecks and I've been left to devise other ways to sponsor my Cap'n Crunch addiction. This entry contains no sadness because my needs and wants have evolved into a minimum.

One new venture is freelance writing. A certain publication, whose validity I still question, approached me and asked if I could write a 500 word article for the entertainment section. "Sure" I respond. My skepticism is muted as a direct result of my hunger. For a writing career or for food? At this stage in my development, the definitions have blurred. The deadline was met on account of having nothing to lose.

Another has been painting. Eva, one of my biggest art cheerleaders, told me about the Gallery at the End of the World. She had a flyer that encouraged emerging artists (that's me!) to display art and hang out with the local art hippies alike. The gallery was a garden space that was decorated with rusty knicknacks and a disco ball. Vines shaded the bar and stage for inspired performers. This is how my Sunday afternoon was spent: Hung up some art. Had drinks with my stylish friends (who looked like fishes out of water) with slimly populated Altadena as the backdrop. Guess what? I even sold some stuff!

Eva asked me, "Aren't you glad that you're not working?" My immediate answer was "no, I hate it." This is evident in the fact that I spend near eight hours a day choosing the sexiest Helvetica resume font and politely e-mailing studios without even a piano break. But at least after the last few weeks, I can define "work" not only by my production jobs, but also by the things I love to do.

Who is you? #7

I'm going to miss you.



You = Mike's Hollywood Hills treehouse, the DeKeyser house (architect: R.M. Schindler) Mike is moving to Venice Beach.