Jenny Holzer

Interesting interview , in the New York Times, with artist Jenny Holzer. I love reading about artists and their daily lives and creative process. For those of you who are unfamiliar, or don't know her by name and live in the San Diego area, her work is prominently displayed on the outside of (my former employer) The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego's, Copley Building. It is the LED light installation which streams Holzer's "truisms" in both English and Spanish.

Image via mcasd.org

I Love This Photo

"In this photograph, Coretta is upset with her husband, who had been attacked the night before by a disturbed white racist but had not defended himself. Though the police urged King to press charges, he refused. “The system we live under creates people such as this youth,” he said. “I’m not interested in pressing charges. I’m interested in changing the kind of system that produces such men.”

via Time Magazine

This Way To Happy

New York Magazine posted this list of 50 Steps to Simple Happiness. #34 is my favorite. Do you have a tip for instant happy?

february top ten

Townes Van Zandt - For The Sake of the Song
The Tall Dwarfs - Nothing's Going to Happen
Pulp - I Want You
Buddy Holly - Dearest
Troy Hess - Please Don't Go Topless, Mother
Nina Simone - Don't Smoke in Bed
Sam Cooke - Having a Party (Live: One Night Stand)
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Kelley Stoltz - The Memory Collector
Johnny Ace - Cross My Heart

My Mission in Life

Okay, so I've already eaten at a handful of restaurants listed on this list of 99 Places to Eat in Los Angeles Before You Die, but not enough to even make a dent. I've got some eating to do. Whose in?

via L.A. Weekly

Cheaponomics

Author Raj Patel lists the Top Ten Things That Aren't As Cheap As You Think. I thought this list was pretty interesting but particularly item #1.

Most Interesting Man In The World

I have been a negligent blogger and I apologize. I had intended for this post to follow that of my co-author's regarding desirable personality traits and also his post regarding Abraham Lincoln, who he considers (and rightly so) to be a great American, if not the greatest. Both posts had me thinking and my mind immediately wandered to another individual I would characterize as a great American. Benjamin Franklin. I find Benjamin Franklin utterly and completely FASCINATING. In fact, I am surprised I have not blogged about him before. I have read his Autobiography several times and what can I say, it tickles me. Have you seen those commercials about the Most Interesting Man In The World? I love them. I can't get enough of them. Well, that is how I feel about Benjamin Franklin. He is the real life Most Interesting Man In The World. He never ceases to amaze me and I have a difficult time believing he truly existed.

And like Yahoo, and my co-author and myself,ol' Benny Boy, also pondered traits he considered to be of a desirable nature. Below is a list of what he considered to be the 13 Virtues most admirable and which he made his life's goal to attain. In his Autobiography he even includes the chart he used to help monitor his progress. Ah, Ben, you were a man after my own heart.

Ben Franklin's Thirteen Virtues

1. Temperance: Eat not to dullness and drink not to elevation.

2. Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling conversation.

3. Order: Let all your things have their places. Let each part of your business have its time.

4. Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve.

5. Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself: i.e. Waste nothing.

6. Industry: Lose no time. Be always employed in something useful. Cut off all unnecessary actions.

7. Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit. Think innocently and justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly.

8. Justice: Wrong none, by doing injuries or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

9. Moderation: Avoid extremes. Forebear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

10. Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanness in body, clothes or habitation.

11. Chastity: Rarely use venery but for health or offspring; Never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.

12. Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

13. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

princess of tide pools

February 13. Family day at the beach to show Anita the tide pools in Dana Point. She was fascinated. Dad was there too, but Mom couldn't take on the rocky terrain due to her bad foot.

i think it's time to go home

After being regaled with the tale of my defense of the People Mover, my mother rolled her eyes and my father placed his hand upon my shoulder, leaned in and said "Son, you told us all many times that the People Mover was your favorite ride. And let me tell you, it was no fun to go on 30 times a day. We were patient." So, faced with the testimony of my closest family, I retract my claim that it was not my favorite. It was my favorite. I do have selective memory. And although I would like to reiterate my stance that I was just a kid and it was just an amusement park ride and therefore not the torture that my family makes it out to be, I cannot. You see, CLK also told a story the other day of a particular trip to Disneyland. It was after dark, getting a bit late, and it was my turn to pick a ride. You can guess which ride I picked. According to her version of the story, she along with my parents groaned at the prospect of riding the dreaded People Mover again, but reluctantly agreed after it was pointed out to them that it was my turn to pick a ride for better or worse. You can't say I had bad intentions, eager as I was to see the Storm Trooper and to race alongside my buddies from TRON. It just so happens that the rest of the ride wasn't altogether exciting. So it goes that after the initial excitement to go on the ride, we began to fade into a People Mover induced lethargy. My dad then, using our exhausted state as an excuse, suggested we go home. CLK turned her devilish eyes on me, uttered words not fit for a naval base and the Happiest Place on Earth was happy for me no more.

Now, I don't actually remember the event so this is just an interpretation of CLK's tale. It is a bit funny and I can definitely see how that night would have been very frustrating for somebody who didn't like the ride, no matter how patient they were. I'll go a step further and say that the story frustrates me, all these years later, to think of that overused sleepiness gambit to get us to go home. Now, before you defend my parents, I can imagine that it's hard to drag kids out of Disneyland and it just was the most opportune time for them to do it. But, it's damned frustrating to a kid and this certainly was not the only time they used this excuse; we were very upset when we discovered their tactics. You see, many a trip to Disneyland ended after a visit to the universally dreaded America Sings. It was nearly 20 minutes long and consisted of sitting in a theater watching animals sing. That's it folks. To a child, sitting still for 20 minutes after 10 o'clock is akin to Superman putting on underwear made of kryptonite. Even after we figured out our parent's ruse we couldn't help but fall asleep, as if the rotating theater were gently rocking us to sleep as the animatronic animals sang us patriotic lullabies. Today when I go on Splash Mountain, with its recycled animatronic robots from America Sings, I still get sleepy. It's Disney's example of Pavlovian conditioning. Somebody should write a study on this effect for a journal.



I think I'm going to have a seizure just looking at that eagle. At least on the People Mover, the wind in your face and the enjoyable modern music helped keep you awake. Ok, not really. I really have no excuse for the People Mover except that I liked it as a child. The same could not be said of America Sings. While both CLK and I would agree that nearly every ride at Disneyland offered some appeal to us, America Sings stood out as the lone attraction for which we harbored a deep resentment. To go on America Sings was to go to sleep. To go to sleep was to go home.

And so it happened that we began to revolt against the very idea of going on America Sings. If only we were organized. We could have locked arms around the statue of Walt in protest. We might have enlisted the help of others to stand with us against the parental atrocities being perpetrated upon us; the innocents in a modern crime of neglect and abuse. The local news would have been called. In our television debut, we would have been downright electric. Two sniffling kids without a souvenir to be found on their person, clutching the copper leg of the statue of a man who fought for the rights of all kids to be happy. Who could deny our plee? Hal Fishman, no doubt, would have portrayed us in a flattering light as would the other LA newsmongers. Our lives may have been forever changed! Instead of blogging today about the trivialities of our lives, we would be the faces of children's rights at Disney theme parks. Our blog would be devoted to the dividing issues that bifurcate families and pit the adults against their children while visiting the Happiest Place On Earth. Can't you see it? The issue is a cash cow mouse. And for my part I would focus on the singular issue that every child faces nearly every day at Disneyland. The right to choose ones own ride. Our rallying cry must be simple yet catchy. Something symbolic of our struggles and representative of the earthly choices that God has bestowed upon us. A grass-roots slogan that even the most cynical of observers can embrace. It's not too late for change to happen.

"Viva los Children! Remember the PeopleMover!"
Please sign the petition.

four glorious words

Today's the day. It's the day that all devout baseball fans wait for. Finally, we get to utter those magical words "pitchers and catchers report." The offseason is unofficially over. It's time for the players to get ready and it's time to get ourselves prepped for the season.

Here is my version of the ten best baseball movies to get you excited for baseball season.

10. Sugar (I haven't seen it yet, but am very anxious)
9. Major League
8. The Jackie Robinson Story
7. Pastime
6. Pride of the Yankees
5. Fever Pitch
4. Eight Men Out
3. Bad News Bears
2. Bang The Drum Slowly
1. The Natural

Of course, everybody should watch Ken Burns' nine part Baseball Documentary. It's a ton of fun and fascinating. It's not on my list because at roughly 20 hours it deserves its own category.

These are the books I will be reading this season.

Pull Up a Chair (The Vin Scully Biography)
The Brothers K
The Boys of Summer
Willie's Boys
The Last Good Season
The Teammates

Finally, here are the books that I read last season.

Crazy '08 (Really Amazing!)
Eight Men Out
I Never Had It Made (Jackie Robinson Autobiography)
In the Country of Baseball (The Dock Ellis Biography)

Smile people, for us Southern Californians this marks the beginning of spring. The orange thing you see in the sky after work? That's the sun. It only gets bigger and brighter from here on out. I couldn't be any more excited.

to TAK, on his birthday

Enjoy big guy.

the flowers and the trees.

Sorry, I don't really have anything for you today. But I am working on hopefully three full posts for tomorrow. In the mean time, please enjoy The Flowers and The Trees, which earned Walt Disney his first Oscar and was the first cartoon in three-strip Technicolor. It also happens to be, in my opinion, one of the most nostalgic bits of video on the internet. For the life of me, I couldn't retell to you any specific memory that I have associated with this cartoon. But I can see the grainy image of it projected upon our old television. I can tell you about the excitement of discovering it on television or the hush that came over us as we watched in awe. That's a magical thing. Our wonderment stems from its status as part relic, part entertainment and part art. It's still worth watching and it's worth passing on to a younger generation.

Chocolate and Churros, Enough Said

For our Valentine's Day we made a seriously kick ass family dinner. White pizza, Caesar Salad with "Crusty Croutons" and for dessert Chocolate Con Churros. Needless to say the dessert was my favorite part. I mean, I think it is perhaps the best thing I have ever made. Do yourself a favor and make it. Like NOW. Oh, but do yourself another favor and don't overdo it ala' The "Classic CLK". I didn't stop eating until the entire batch was gone. The batch big enough to feed 6. Painful. But divine, none the less.

(Recipe and Photo via Cannelle et Vanille, thank you, thank you!)

Exploring the Positive

I have been feeling really down this week. I can't explain why really. But mostly the negative seems to be outweighing the positive and I am allowing it to overwhelm me. This doesn't usually happen, but here I am. So I am attempting to pull myself out of it. I happened upon Keri Smith's website today and it may be just what I needed. Anita received Keri's book How To Be An Explorer Of The World for Xmas but I am ashamed to say we have not put it to good use as of yet. After reading her blog, I pulled the book from it's shelf and plan on exploring it (and the world) immediately.

year of the tiger

Happy Chinese New Year everybody.
Dim Sum (one of my very favorite meals) with friends and then Ranch 99 Market for some shopping and idle time spent looking at and reading the wide variety of labels. I may make fun of the more exotic foods, but overall I love the Asian markets for their colorful and diverse selection. Our favorite was "Brown Job's Tears Powder". Job's Tears is apparently a plant with many uses, especially as a digestive aid. Hope you all had a great New Year's weekend.

yahoo answers

I was doing homework this morning when a very important issue came up. It occurred to me that there must be plenty of hilarious questions submitted to Yahoo Answers that I haven't seen yet. So I got down to the real work at hand. Procrastination is great.

Dig.


Inarguation? Seriously? Frank, stop taking advice, and possibly spelling lessons, from dogs named Swampy.


Let's not gloss over the fact that the asker is named "Markie Mark Yo".


I dated a feminist. This might explain how she was always able to beat me at UNO.


This scenario blows my mind up. I'd like to imagine this was an assignment for his/her freshman English class. Asker "ss c" couldn't bring himself/herself to actually listen to the song. This is the 11th hour plea for help.


The world may never know Alex. Kind of like, how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop.

Yes, I am kind of obsessed with John Mayer's megalomania, racism, twitter addiction, etc.. Yes, I just kind of blogged about John Mayer. This blog is going downhill.
Find your own Yahoo Answers. E-mail them to me, please.

in defense of . . . the people mover

Our trip is set, our plans are made. On March 11th, my entire extended family will accompany a soon-to-be two year old Anita O to the Happiest Place on Earth. That is just four weeks away. So I hope this will be the first in a series of posts focused on the HPOE. See my last post about Disneyland. The trip was delayed from September until March.

As a kid, I was a Disneyland junkie. I obsessed over the upcoming trips, planned out our routes, looked at photos of past trips and just all around talked about Disneyland a LOT. When a Disneyland trip was announced I had to pull out the old photos and souvenirs, including my collection of ticket stubs and pressed pennies to look at. We had a TV tray that featured a picture of the whole Disney cast of characters posed in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle. Once a trip was announced, I tried to use that TV tray at every possible meal. I watched or begged my dad to record the Wonderful World of Disney. I'd re-watch Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier, though that was hardly out of the ordinary as I watched that a lot. And if CLK deigned to allow me, I would look through her awesome book of Disney autographs. It was a magical book filled with the messy scripts of Winnie the Pooh, Minnie and Mickey (remember it's kind of hard to write in those big costumes) alongside the much more legible signatures of Snow White, Cinderella and Peter Pan (more on that story some other time).

As I alluded to before, I saved souvenirs, tickets and maps from our trips. Far before the subsequent trip was planned, I would pull out the map to study and plan out the most efficient way to see all of the attractions. The golden goal was to go to every attraction in the entire park (as listed on the map) in one day. And before CLK chimes in, I will admit the futility of such planning. You see, it wasn't possible to go to every attraction in the park because I was too damned scared to go on the damned fast rides until I was eight damned years old (1988). That was the year dear old mom got sick of sitting and waiting with me while CLK and my dad went on the likes of the Matterhorn, Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain Railroad without us. She paid me a dollar to go on Space Mountain that year. I was terrified the entire time we were in line. And once on the ride I sat cross-armed trying to act as if I was unafraid. Afterwards, I bragged of my accomplishment, and although the expansion of my horizons was soon to follow, on that day when my parents asked if I would like to go again or on the other fast rides I meekly declined.

Instead, we likely went on what CLK refers to as my favorite ride. I don't know if I am just conveniently blocking the memory, but I don't remember ever calling the People Mover my favorite ride, but I'll admit it was up there. For a spaced obsessed kid like myself, it was the closest thing to a Tron or Star Wars ride (no Star Tours at the time) and that sums up the whole appeal for me. Yes, I am aware now that Mission to Mars may have been a better choice for the galactically minded but my parents hated that attraction and so I never ever went on it. CLK lamented that the People Mover was so slow and boring and that I wanted to go on it so many times. Cut me some slack I was a kid. And hey, doesn't that still kind of describe my personality? I tend to like things that others don't and things that are boyish but not overwhelmingly manly. And when I like something, I still enjoy it repeatedly. Plus, the People Mover seemed very vintage Disney to me. I liked some of the oldest attractions the best. The Swiss Family Tree house, The Haunted Mansion, Tom Sawyer's Island, Country Bear Jamboree, The Train Ride (for the dinosaurs) and Pirates of the Caribbean, though yes I was scared of the drops on PotC. Even then I knew that I usually liked older things better than their newer counterparts.

And though the People Mover is no longer, I am still looking forward to our mid-March sojourn. It's been nearly 10 years since my last Disneyland trip and probably close to 15 since I attended the HPOE with my parents. Now that I am older I can impress my parents by going on all of the fast rides, by myself even. I'm sure to enjoy the old favorites and look towards the new additions with a wary eye. But the best part will just be the opportunity to be around Anita as she enjoys it for her first time. I can't wait to see her face as she leads her mom and dad down Main Street. I'm laying bets that she is excited to see Mickey rather than terrified as some children are. I am giddy over the prospect of going on Dumbo with her and watching her learn the controls (Yes I will let her). And I'm looking forward to helping her overcome her fears and even helping her to find her own People Mover. If she chooses a ride that I can't stand, I'll try to be patient. After all, we've all been there. We'd all be lucky to find that happiness again.

Personality Traits

Here is Yahoo's 6 Personality Traits to Admire and Acquire.
1) Selflessness
2) Tolerance
3) Genuineness
4) Sensitivity
5) Integrity
6) Humility

I'm sure to get some guff for the source, but who cares. It bears repeating that there is not an end point. It's a continuous battle that we must engage in everyday of our lives.

blows me away

That's a photograph, not a computer generated image.
From The Independent.

eye candy

Chained and Perfumed is addicting for it's pics and pop culture flashbacks. I spent quite a long time there the other night staring at the photos of David Bowie as snapped by Linda McCartney and reading the old articles and movie reviews. It's pretty well put together and I am fascinated by those awesome pictures that they find.

Warning: The front page of their site is ok as of this date, but some older posts are definitely Not Safe For Work (NFSW) due to some nudity. So be careful out there.

Cookbooks...

I love me a cookbook. I read them front to back. The good ones, I read over and over and again. I love reading about good food, tips on how to make good food and looking at photos of ...good food. And of course, I love reading the lists. The lists of equipment you need, items to stock in your pantry and those needed in recipes. Here is a list of my favorite cookbooks, the ones I use most often and consider good reads...

1. The Ramos House Cookbook by John Q. My favorite restaurant and my go-to cookbook when there is a celebration in order. You can never go wrong with this one. Hush Puppies, Po-Boys, Lobster Bread Pudding, Fried Chicken Salad, Macaroni and Cheese...all amazing.

2. Babycakes by Erin McKenna. I have already mentioned my love for Babycakes. I have read this cookbook more times then I can count. Love it, love it, love it.

3. Get It Ripe by Jae Steele. This is a a cookbook full of yummy food that just happens to be vegan. You do not have to be a vegan to enjoy these recipes. Promise.

4. The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters. It is pretty much the bible and Alice Waters is the Almighty. Another one I have read over and over. Reading it makes my mouth water.

5. The Vegetarian Family Cookbook by Nava Atlas. The first cookbook I bought after becoming a vegetarian. I think it is a perfect book to help make the transition from carnivore. The recipes and food are really simple and delicious and not at all overwhelming.

6. How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman. I love Mark Bittman. I also have his Food Matters which includes recipes. His recipes are also very simple but full of flavor and a little unique.

7. The New Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas. I didn't realize it until compiling this list but I have a lot of vegetarian cookbooks! And I know I keep saying this but this is another one that you can totally enjoy even if you are the most carnivorous of carnivores. This one is great for Sunday night family dinners or if you are having people over. The meals are slightly more elaborate than what I would make on say, a Tuesday night, say, but every one I have tried has been so good and I love that she gives you a full meal's worth of recipes so you don't have to search for an appetizer and dessert to go with the main course, it's all done for you.

8. The Native Foods Restaurant Cookbook by Tanya Petrovna. If you have not been to Native Foods yet I suggest you check it out because their food is pretty darn tasty. I recommend the Surf Tacos. This cookbook was a gift from my girl #1 and to be honest at first I felt a little intimidated by it. I had never cooked seitan or tempeh before and I was a little nervous about trying it with the tough critic I sit across from at the dinner table every night. But when I finally did try it I found it to be so very, very, easy and quite tasty! It even got a thumbs up from the before mentioned critic.

I think I'll stop there. Yes, I have many, many more cookbooks and I do use them but these are the ones I use the most often and that I keep handy and not tucked away in a bookcase.

LA day

Saturday:
First, we went to Babycakes (aka CLK's crackhouse). She spent $56 on pastries people. They were very awesome, I must say.

Then, we went to Cole's for some French Dips. I had a lamb French Dip with bleu cheese and a side of mac n' cheese. Very good. Combined with the decor and no lines, I might like Cole's better than Philippe's. Sacrilege, I know.

Finally, we went to LA Kings game. My camera was not allowed inside.
All in all, a very good Saturday.

snow day

Snow Day in Julian three Sundays ago. I didn't like the other pictures much so this is all you get.

Skate Witches

I cannot stop thinking about this video of the Skate Witches and the follow up article with The Queen Witch. (via Got a Girl Crush)

jangle town

Not feeling particularly energetic or good or happy today. So I'll post a video. It's the tone of the song that kills me.

the book on abraham

Busy again, but a few quotes for you from the greatest of Americans.

Die when I may, I want it said of me by those who knew me best that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.

From a Letter to Joshua Speed

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.

From a letter to Isham Reavis (5 November 1855)

One quote that I used to favor which I believe has been wrongly attributed to Lincoln is:

I am a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn't have the heart to let him down...

For more reading on the subject I recommend A Lincoln Blog and the great book by Doris Kearns Goodwin entitled Team of Rivals. Lincoln was the greatest President. This is a given as far as I am concerned. Team of Rivals may be proof that he was one of the greatest human beings ever.

Note: I would like to write a much longer post on Lincoln and I may still yet, but I figured we can always use some guidance. A few quick quotes from one of the greatest always helps me find some of that lost get-up-and-go.