Greenberg

On Saturday, I saw Greenberg at the ArcLight.
Great movie despite one of the most awkward sex scenes to grace the big screen in recent years! If you are in the Los Angeles area, go and check it out!

An Impressive Morning in Echo Park: The LA Marathon

The noise of helicopters woke me up bright and early this Sunday morning. While at times helicopters are common in Echo Park, these were indicating something different. The Marathon, starting off at nearby Dodger Stadium, was in preparation stages. I tuned into the local channel and caught the start of the various races. Wheelchair and women's elite started the bunch, followed by the elite men's and general race. However, I should note that there was nothing general about the general race. With over 25,000 participants, the race took over the streets of Los Angeles. I decided to walk down to Echo Park Lake to catch some of the race first hand. While the act of running 26 miles is crazy and impressive, even more crazy and more impressive was the amount of folks who came out to cheer on the athletes. It was before 8 AM on a Sunday, yet the intersections were full of families, individuals and couples out to show their support. It was one of those moments that is making me feel more and more at home here in Los Angeles. Check out some of the images from the race:

Research to be conducted...

More important than my current master's paper is this phenomenon: Why do dogs react so much to the Law and Order theme song. As a fan of both dogs AND my beloved SVU, I fully support anyone willing to research the correlation.







Here is an article about the howling sensation

Parenthesis

Tonight, I took the night off. I have been busy the past few nights working on my thesis and in the gallery. After my internship today, I decided that I would just relax and do nothing. Nothing at my place usually equates to me puttering around on the internet or watching some bad television. A more apt description of nothing in my world would be doing both of the previously mentioned activities at the same time. In doing both simultaneously, they lose any shred of meaning they possibly could have stated out with. So, you can imagine my delight when Netflix was on point with sending me the just-released-to-DVD film, Up in the Air:

Since it came out, it seemed like a film I would enjoy. But alas, being broke and not flexible with time prohibited a theatre viewing in the past few months. So this past weekend, the Oscars came and went and the film moved forward sans award. However, its presence as a nominee reminded me that I really wanted to see it.

I just watched the movie and have to say I enjoyed it. What struck me though was a scene in which Ryan and Alex discuss the demise of their relationship (or was it even ever able to defined as such). Nevertheless, at one point Alex delivers quite a blow... She states to Ryan that he was her "parenthesis." Hmm. Fluff tends to be situated in those cute little braces. Extra stuff. I needed a bit more so I sauntered over to Wikipedia to find the true definition on parenthesis: contain material that could be omitted without destroying or altering the meaning of a sentence. Man. Pretty harsh. But at least memorably harsh.........

Check the movie out if you haven't.

Boston

Talking to Amy this afternoon got me thinking about the last time that I was in Boston and our ill fated 3 hour trip in NYC. I will spare you reader, with the details as I know I have posted much about this in the past. Instead, I will leave you with this serene image of a typically busy T car. Somehow, we caught the absolute last train back to Amy's place. Exhausted and cold, we took delight in the passenger free car. It was the perfectly calm lid that needed to be placed on the day.

The MTV of Yore....

During dinner, a conversation took place regarding the spitting that takes place when certain people pronounce certain letters a certain way. This brought a silly melody into my head complimented with even sillier lyrics: "Say it. Don't spray it. I want the news, not the weather." All I could remember was that it somehow had a connection to the years in which I stopped watching MTV on a regular basis. After a quick google search, I found the song in question along with a video clip:

The song, written by a band called 2gether, was part of a made for MTV movie and subsequent television series that followed the trials and tribulations of a boy band and their quest for fame. I vaguely remember catching clips of this show as backdrops to parties at friends houses. This got me thinking to the days in which I really watched MTV. Real World Venice Beach, San Francisco and London. After London I stopped consistently watching the show. Not because I didn't like it, but the fact that I got a car most likely had a minor influence. I have to say though, the London show was really great. Yes, I was younger and more impressionable at the time, but I feel that the show had more substance than it does these days. The cast of London all had pretty interesting jobs like playwrights, racecar drivers, models, etc. I feel that now, the show will shy away from a more well rounded cast in the hopes of finding the newest "Situation". Oh well. Big shock. I will leave you, reader, with a clip from my favorite season. And no big shock that at 15 I thought Neil was hot shit.......

I Think I'll go with the Leo Today: A Walk Around Echo Park

At an Echo Park barber shop along Sunset, one can find the greatest poster illustrating sample hairstyles. I have walked by this gem many times and it has gone unnoticed until now. Also during this monumental walk, I noticed some other things that caught my eye.....most notably this arsenal of toilets sitting on the corner in the neighborhood. I had several intentions of getting a picture of this porcelain masterpiece, but I was a) either running late on my way to work or b) without camera. Luckily, for me, no one came to quickly to relieve the corner of the johns......

To round up the walk, we did a lap around the Echo Park lake. The persistent rain has done wonders for the air around town thereby allowing for a greater field of clear vision. I must say, the city had a majestic feeling that day.