Pants Party!

This video is pretty riddick! Could be a jean ad stunt but I love it regardless!

hehehehe

random run-in: animal edition

Soooooo yeah. I'm walking next door to Vegan Express for lunch today and hear some random noises. My co-worker thinks it's a baby and I thought it was just a random weed whacker in the distance. But lo and behold the sounds came from a GOAT IN THE BACKSEAT OF A KIA PARKED IN THE LOT!!!! I noticed random movement so I was compelled to run over to check it out, obvs.

A goat

A goat in the backseat of a random sedan. It...it made my freakin' day! This is totally better than Madame Poulet, although she was "ours". (R.I.P)

Turns out Billy the Kid is the pet of a couple dining in Vegan Express' patio.

Seriously...MADE MY DAY!

20? Really?

20

Randomness that I found on Big Action!

speechless

Most times I have no control of what I say...well, scratch that. I think it's really the poor execution. After I say things outloud it's like I can visualize these empty spaces that ought to be filled because all that's spewing out are these blunt chunks. And it's horrible. Maybe I just need more gusto. Maybe I need to take a speech class or conversation class because I am realising more and more that I also interrupt people and I just keep thinking how rude I must sound. Like, I will talk over them and cut them off. I also do this thing where I have these pauses because I will forget words. Just pause in mid-sentence a bit. Motherboard overload or something. It's so weird. And bad. Maybe it's nerves in certain situations? And to think I did public speaking in high school.

I'm just low on gusto.

Happy HAARP Day

Mmmmm Muse. I went to the MUSE DVD screening @ the Vista last night. I don't think I've ever been to a DVD viewing party before so it was cool to watch it at one of my favourite theaters in LA. And I've never seen MUSE live (ugh....I know, I know, lay off me!) so this was kind of like it? Ok, who am I fooling. It's a totally different experience and who am I to even compare concert footage to the actual LIVE experience! But it was still fun...I'm just sayin' in all! Now, if they had made it some sort of IMAX experience, THAT my friends, would've be quite a sight to see. At least the sound quality wasn't shitty and our seats and sodas were vibrating nonetheless.

Great show from as much as I sat through. The production was insane! I mean, once you see them rising from the walkway a mile away from the actual stage you know right then and there that this ain't gonna be a silly nanny concert! And I'm not gonna lie, the band looked scrumptious. Seriously, rockstar status can make any scrawny boy look yummy! And it isn't just me who thinks Chris resembles a hybrid of Jeremy Piven and Chris Joannou of silverchair, right? Absolute hybrid! (In the footage, at least)

Final thoughts? I am always amazed at how much power rockers have over throngs of people. You see those kids in the front rows just belting the lyrics out after standing in those pits for hours. True dedication.

And part of me thought the screening was some April Fool's joke where they make you sit in a theater with a handful of meat heads being obnoxious for the whole hour before the lights go out...like some episode of the Twilight Zone where you have to endure these guys who just won't...shut...the...fuck....up! Just absolute meatheady fratty mcfratterson brobrahs surrounding us from every corner of the small theater...closing in on us...for what seemed like an eternity!

Other than that, fun times all around. We bobbed our heads. We stamped our feet. We clapped and sang along. Part of me wanted to get up and start jumping around like I was one of those kids sweating up against all the bodies around me, just rockin' out.

Yeah, I need to go to a show again soon...or just be in the mood to go out dancing one night.

oh those japanese...

...they think of everything!

Just one of the many videos the circulated in the office this morning. I think the Bruce Springsteen one is my favourite.

i'm in love

I finally decided to watch this movie (I missed it in theaters) and I think I am in love. Ok, I don't think I am in love, I KNOW I'm in love with this beautiful cult movie. Insert happy sigh here. It's so refreshing. Ahhhhh. So lovely!

In a weird morbid way it comforted me. I am so afraid of death and dying and watching this movie kind of made me wish the afterlife was...not as horrifying just like that. Just normal, you know? Seamless. But I'd like to be able to smile unlike them. I know the movie is all make believe but it's nice to have your own security blanket, right? People have Heaven. Why can't I have my pretty little make believe world?

Aside from my morbid aspirations, you need to watch this movie if you haven't already! I want to find a used copy of this DVD to have for my own. And the soundtrack, too! Let me just drive off aimlessly with it playing! Maybe up the 101 or something.

plaid party!

I've been having a shit-sandwich couple of weeks and was glad to get out and be around good people. Jose was in town so his presence, even for a little bit, lifted mein spirits.

I went to my former co-worker's housewarming @ her new loft this past weekend and I really want one of my own! One day....one day.

Mike K and Noah's plaid threw me off.

We all decided to get on board the plaid party train for solidarity


I take on a bejeweled accordion

weekend recap

Anyone else in LA notice how absolutely gorgeous it was all weekend? The lovely weather prompted me to recover from my crazy Friday Night (more on that later...) and live like I was in San Francisco or Paris again. We drive enough in this city anyway. So I put on some comfy shoes, packed my reusable Starbucks thermos (in case I wanted some iced green tea), and my cameras (one digital and one manual) and set out for the LA street. I really had no idea where I was going but I was going somewhere with all the time in the world. If I got tired then I could always hop on a bus.
Great weather, great to peek into abandoned buildings, great to rest in thrift stores and find a comfy chair that I eventually bought (yes, it's my new favourite thing in my apartment. Thank you, Ann, for picking me and my new/old chair up!)
After dropping my chair off at home, we ended up driving to what was supposed to be my walking destination: Barnsdall Art Park in Los Feliz. My elementary school is across the street from it and I remember taking filed trips up there before they closed it off for renovations (and what I thought was construction of a metro station...).
It was gorgeous up there with the view of the city. Moments like that made me adore the city. My trip also ignited my "need a new hobby" flame and I may end up taking some sort of art class there. I'm thinking ceramics even though I really want to take a children's papier mache class. (They refuse to let me even after I begged).

I got restless again on Sunday and after lunching with mom we got on the freeway and I just drove south on the 101, not really knowing where I was going. It was so pretty out that I proposed a trip to the Griffith Observatory (since I hadn't been since they re-opened it). Since you can't park up at the top we had to park on the side of the road and hike up. FUN! No, really, it was. I did, however, get dizzy the higher up I got.

The Observatory seemed much smaller than I remembered. I loved how excited my mom got with the telescopes outside. She just kept shoving quarters in and looking out towards Downtown LA or the Hollywood sign.

The planetarium show was really fun (but it kind of made me sick, it was so dizzying). And I must say that I actually enjoyed the younger children there. It was cute to hear this kid next to me get super excited before the show because he actually thought we were heading off to the moon! No kidding! When he saw some guys go into the show's control room he thought it was the captains cockpit or something. The kid totally killed me. He was so into it! The teenagers on the other side of me, on the other hand, were really annoying and it made me really sad to think that I was probably that annoying and saying those really dumb things. It pained me to my very core to listen to them. It also scared the hell out of me to think that I will have to endure putting up with that if I ever decide to have children.


Yes, a very touristy weekend of sorts for me. Next weekend I may hop on one of those Hollywood tour buses and tell folks I'm from some random place like Canada or South Africa or some Asian country and pretend I don't speak Engrish.


My face looks quite chubby in that left photo. A chubby Asian tourist.

what's new pussycat?

This song has been stuck in my head all morning...and everyday of my life!

i think i'm turning japanese

Meet Nirf. I did at a Big City Rock/Everybody Else show @ the Roxy. One doesn't normally see a Japanese posse at one of these shows so naturally I felt compelled to have them in my life! Plus, I had some down time. C'mon, JAPANESE PUNK POSSE. I'm part cat so curiosity is in my blood!

I've hung out with them a handful of times and they are pretty redic. (Spending time with them is always an adventure. I LOVE FOREIGNERS!). What's even better is that they don't speak English very well. Sometimes I wonder how we understand each other. Alot of pantomiming, pens + paper, and patience. I've even kept the scraps of paper and bar napkins we've written on because it looks like a war map! Pictures of butterflies and phonetic spelling. I love it! Seriously, the napkins can be found on my fridge. Mementos of random evenings. And I love how they are up for anything! They have this innocent excitement! Like, we'll be at a bar and a song we all know comes on the jukebox and while I may start off hesitant they are totally belting the lyrics as best they can and dancing around. They are just totally excited and happy to be in this city. (They cried when they played @ the whiskey this past weekend).

You know what I also love? Their obsession with Nirvana and Foo Fighters (hence "NIRF"). That is what I love about music. We all may have a hard time trying to understand what the other is trying to say but music becomes this common denominator. That and good drinks.

(Look! It's my friend, Albie, and I dancin' in the front row from a few months ago. I didn't know this existed.)

They are playing in Little Tokyo this Friday at Judo Chop. It should be pretty wild and they are fun live. I'm still not sure if they're singing in English or Japanese and quite frankly I don't care. I mimic sounds just as fine. "Wahhhh wahhh wahhh wahh" just like when you're singing along to the radio and don't know the lyrics.

Little Tokyo will also mean hanging out at one of my favourite divey bars and 25cent karaoke (or is it $1? All i know is, there's always alot of quarters involved).

where there's smoke...

Smokers fascinate me! Everytime I see one I always wonder how they started/why they started. Sheer curiosity? Resorted to them during stressful situations? The ever popular "look cool" reason? Or maybe they are like one of my best friends who started smoking cigarettes to wean off weed.

I always wonder how they can spend so much money on carton after carton or how they survive during continental flights (seriously, 12 hours on Air France and my fellow (French) passengers are going to listen to the "no smoking in the bathrooms" rule? Oh please.) And what's up with the constant spitting? Ugh!

One thing that I do like about them is their sense of community and solidarity. No matter how hard up for cash they are and they're down to their last 2 cigs, they are still happy to oblige when someone bums a smoke. Camaraderie! Because when you bum off some total stranger later on you are guaranteed one.

Sometimes I wish I was a smoker for that sense of camaraderie. They are the "bad" ones who rebelled and are now addicts. There are commercials about them, the doomed. There are signs prohibiting them from doing what they love at certain places and having to submit to their cravings in designated areas. Negative stigma all around. Society bands against them. They are the "others". So they stick together! United! Leaving me sometimes wanting to be part of their unspoken secret societies! Be like Rachel from Friends who started smoking on the roof with her co-workers to get in on the "good" conversations and become buddy-buddy with her boss!

I'm at the laundrymat a few weeks ago. Everytime I go I always wonder if there will be some cute guy there and we'd strike up a conversation just like in the movies then we'd exchange numbers, meet for a drink - typical PG-13 shit. Lo and behold, sitting at one of the tables waiting for the spin cycle is this cute guy. Target locked. I'm thinking once I load my machine we'll end up talking some way or another. He goes outside to his car then stands out there for a bit. When I peek out the window to see where he is I see him light up. Oh great, a smoker. It's an automatic response (but realize alot of my friends and some (many lately) guys I'm attracted to happen to be smokers). If I were a smoker a perfect segue would be for me to go out there, bum a smoke, and conversation would naturally ensue. But I'm not, so it didn't. You know what did happen, though? Cute-girl-X goes outside, bums a smoke, and starts talking/flirting with him! That bitch! That white cigarette was her flag and planted it right in him. Claimed him! Of course! 20 minutes later she walks back in with a piece of paper and his digits, and so did he with hers. Of course!

Or how about the time I hung out with some guy and his friends whilst they were house-sitting. Every few minutes or so they would all get up, go outside, and stand/sit in a circle to smoke. Nothing much was said. They just smoked. This went on like clockwork and everytime I would just sit there playing with a leaf. It was either that or sit in the house alone. The situation was quite comical. Just picture this mini herd of smokers and the lone Liza trying to make conversation amongst strangers who hid behind their smoker walls. Awkward turtle moment if I ever saw one!

Maybe that is how many people start smoking - to fill the void of feeling left out. Seriously, where there are smokers there's company. If I smoked I'm sure I'd see my neighbours more often because the only times I see them is when they are out on their porch smoking or on the sidewalk smoking in their little old man posse. Same at shows. Alot of my friends spend half of their time outside smoking and hanging out with other friends who smoke.

Meh, not my cup of tea, though. Really, can you picture me constantly spitting? Seriously, the spitting...ugh! I'm a lady, dammit! I'll just pretend to smoke carrot sticks and incite conversation that way. Or carry around a Tankbook. Books that come in cig packs are pretty neat conversation pieces.
"Hey, can I bum a smoke?"
"Oh, sorry, this is actually Kafka..."
"Really? No kidding, eh?"
"Yeah. Weird, you'd have to wonder what Kafka would think of his work being put into a box that normally contains stuff that people buy to increase the chance of them slowly killing themselves..."

And that could spiral into a whole interesting thing... or transform into an awkward turtle.