West coast represent.

Is it bad to actually admit I like this song?!? I actually even BOUGHT one of the remixes online too. Stay tuned to (maybe) hear it in a future FLIP4BEARZ mix. Meanwhile, I could do without the 'visuals' of the original. Here's something a little more interesting. Love, love, LOVE the breakdown around 2:20 or so! Too bad the boys look like they need to eat a cheeseburger or 3 or 4. LOL.

Top down and chin(s) away.

What an unflattering angle, huh?  Anyway -- the sun was out and I was going stir crazy in the house this weekend.  I just had to pop the convertible top down and enjoy the afternoon!

The Getty.

I love going to The Getty.  Aside for the $15 parking fee (!), it's one of the few free things you can go here.  We spent most of the day just enjoying the grounds and took a couple of tours outside.  We did, however, catch the Rembrandt drawings exhibit.  It's totally not my thing, but I was just in awe seeing masterful books and prints that were over 350 years old!

Anyway, thank goodness it was a beautiful and clear day in LA.  After all of the rain we had in the past couple of weeks (not that it's a bad thing) and the cooler than normal weather, it was nice to be out and about on my day off!  Sorry I had to resort to using my camera phone, but the pics didn't turn out THAT bad, right?  LOL.

TGI...Tuesday?

I went to T.G.I. Fridays for some after work cocktails today with some coworkers.  I'm all about margaritas for some reason.  Anyway, sorry for the dark pic.  It's hard trying to take a covert picture when the people you are with REALLY REALLY don't want to be photographed!

I am finally getting my car back from the mechanic tomorrow.  We won't mention how I have been without my own wheels for over a month now.  We also won't mention how my back-up wheels (my relatives' late model mini-van) busted a fan belt while I was driving it last week.  Something tells me maybe I shouldn't be driving???  Anyway -- over the past week or so, I've been getting to work through the kindness of the fellow co-workers I had drinks with tonight.  On the days I'm not able to hitch a ride, I've been taking the bus.  Getting up at the butt-crack of dawn to get ready to go to work is NOT cute.  What is normally a 20-25 drive to work has been escalated to about an 1 hour and 15 minutes riding the bus with a transfer of lines in the middle.  'Tis the life of living in the suburbs of Los Angeles.

On the pier.

From Drop Box

The rains finally stopped and the sun finally came out after more than a week!  So what does one in California decide to do?  Go to the BEACH of course!  (Actually not everyone normally, but that's what I decided to do.  LOL)  Hermosa Beach is a quaint little beach town not too far from where I live.  Of all the ones up and down the LA area coast, this is my favorite.  It's not a big commercial mess and actually quite residential.  Yuppiefied, even.  More pics below (click to embiggen):

From Drop Box

From Drop Box

From Drop Box

From Drop Box

From Drop Box

Dumpage on WEHO.

From Pic a day

Mike + Steve

From Pic a day

Jerome + Mike

The Motherlode just dumped into the street (just like every other bar in West Hollywood) at 2:00am. I had a great time with Steve and Jerome from Paris. Thanks for getting me out of the house on a Friday night! The Eagle - Faultline - Eagle - WEHO barhopping is something I probably wouldn't have done on my own! :-)

Catching up (again).

(Ketchup ... get it?!?)

I have so many things to talk about but nothing much really to say... Got writer's block much? Aside from not making any sense as well, this summer has proven to be such a big roller coaster ride for me. First off, the job transfer / promotion that I was vying for didn't come through as I was hoping for. I was hoping to be moved back home on the east coast by now but due to the current economic climate, I was passed over by some local candidates. (That's the answer they gave me at least.) Am I bitter? Yes, slightly, but short of quitting, what can I do, right?

I actually went OUT last weekend. Believe it or not, I actually went out and about in the big city to enjoy the musical stylings of MURK (Oscar G. and Ralph Falcon). The kicker is that I actually went out by myself...to a straight club at that! What?!? It was the first time in over a year that I've been to a club in LA. Come to think of it, it was the first time I've actually gone clubbing at all since my trip back home to DC/NY this past December! I'm not sure what really prompted me to go. I just had that 'itch' I guess. It was fun, albeit short. Gone are the days of my marathon weekends, so my timing was a bit off. I didn't get 'rolling' out of the house until after 1:00am. By the time I got to the club, I only got to catch the tail end of MURK's set. Back in the day, the headliner was always on last. Oh well -- what I did hear was great. I ended up staying until 5:00am and headed on home. Mind you, I had to work later that afternoon at 3:00pm. We had inventory at the store that day --- trust me, it wasn't cute. Also paying $35 for a club night out wasn't cute either. It most especially wasn't cute when I missed buying the $15.00 pre-sale by a few minutes online! Ugh.

I've become much more of a TV-holic nowadays more than ever before. I scored some tickets to the season finale of SO YOU CAN THINK YOU CAN DANCE. As you know -- TV show audience tickets are generally free. Ticket requests are basically available when they're available. For this particular show, I applied for them last year! The same goes for AMERICAN IDOL too. The regular tapings have limited audiences and because of their popularity, I only got called in for the BIG ROOMS. This particular taping was held at the famous Kodak Theater in Hollywood where the Oscars are broadcast from. It was amazing. We had drama, though, trying to get in. I had a specific call time to fall in line and apparently I was directed to the wrong line. By the time I finally got to the correct line, they cut me off by like 5 people!!! I had to then wait for standby seats. A few hours later in a mass of 3000+ people later, we finally got in. You can see pix from our seats here. Oh yeah -- when they tell you that a show is LIVE on TV ... it doesn't necessarily mean that it's broadcast live! The taping I went to was recorded the day BEFORE it was broadcast. I know for a fact that the finale for IDOL was, but this particular one was not. We were there in the theater for over 3 hours and the show was edited down to 2 hours.

Nothing much else to say except that I'm just gearing up to go to my baby brother's wedding in Toronto the first week of September. My passport renewal finally came in this week. I kind of put it off until the last minute. Luckily for me, the normal 4-6 week processing time only took a little over 3 weeks to complete. I'm poor so I'm totally going BUDGET on this trip. I will be using buddy passes from an old co-worker from the airline I used to work for. That means that I will be flying standby LAX-JFK-BUF and then taking the bus to Toronto. Glamorous, eh?

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Starbucks PV

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Up.

I had a great night last night at the movies.  I've never been to The El Capitan Theater and was pleasantly surprised at the experience.  The El Capitan is basically a restored grand movie house from the 1920's located right across the street on Hollywood Boulevard from the famed Grauman's Chinese Theater.  The theater today is an extension of anything and ALL things Disney.  In true Disney style, we were treated by a full-on live stage show with sing and dancing AND costumed characters.  It was cute, trust me.  LOL.

(We saw the movie UP in 3-D.  It included a fat pudgy Asian kid.  EYELUVIT!  LOL.)


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Heart attack on a plate.

... and boy, it was GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!  ;-)

Yesterday's excursion into LA proper was spent with my old roommate from DC Glen and his cousin Malou from San Francisco.  They were just visiting for the weekend and we decided to take in some of the sights.  We basically just ATE.  Probably the biggest highlight was a visit to ROSCOE'S HOUSE OF CHICKEN n WAFFLES.  I'll just let the pictures speak...


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IDOL-ized.

(click click click - enlarges nicely)

I attended the taping of the final showdown of American Idol today! It was held at the beautiful Nokia Theater in downtown LA's LA LIVE campus. Just seeing Adam and Kris on TV does not do their voices justice. They are both amazing live performers regardless of what style you call their singing. I would have posted / tweeted some pictures but cameras and phones weren't allowed. The logistics of where we parked the car to the waiting line to the theater itself were a big ol' pain so we just decided to leave the camera phones in the car. As for the show itself , it was definitely taped LIVE as it started promptly at 5:00 PST [8:00 EST]. Paula's green outfit tonight was a full length gown that looked fierce as she was introduced on the stage before the show.  Lastly, the best handmade sign seen in the audience was held up by a girl that said,

"ADAM -- can I be your EVE?"

(Awwww, bless her heart. LOL.)

***People always ask how I get to see things like this. It's not like I actually pay money to see television tapings. Studio tapings are generally free and tickets are available for the asking really. I guess you can just consider it a little perk of living in the Los Angeles area. It's just when shows are popular things get a little more complicated. I've been getting a lot of DANCING WITH THE STARS opportunities the past couple of weeks but those have been coming in on the DAY OF TAPING ~ not so convenient. In the case of today's IDOL taping, I put myself on the waiting list LAST season and just got a ticket availability confirmation by email this past Friday! As for the ELLEN holiday giveaway show earlier this year -- that was just pure luck!




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GeoTag!

I found this neat application for my phone today that basically tracks your movements via GPS. It's great if you're a hiker or some kind of distance bike rider so you can share your 'travels' with everyone. Being that I will probably not do any of these activities anytime soon, I decided to take the Cabrio for a spin with the top down and cruise around. Oh yeah -- along the way you can tag specific events/places along the way. Any pictures or video taken can be uploaded separately and then the program will figure out where to place it on your map according to the GPS and/or timestamp signature. I started out in the top left and did a full circle of sorts. Check out what I did this afternoon:







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Top UP or DOWN?

(click click click for better detail)

Do you like??? I forgot to tell ya'll that I got a new (old) car last week. It's a 1996 VW Cabrio that's in pretty great condition, but needs a little work here and there.  Ever since I got first got my driver's license [back in 1984, yikes] I have always wanted one of these.  Back then, I was always discouraged by my choice because it was stereotypically a "girlie" car. Heaven forbid it be a RED one! Oh well -- f*ck it. I'm too old to be thinking about what other people think. Ha!  Luckily for me, everything just aligned up right and this pretty much just landed in my lap with a bow on it ... sorta.  For the past couple of years, I've been 'borrowing' a pickup truck that belongs to some relatives.  I think the push to get this thing was a big nudge on their part.  I'll spare you the details, but what I will tell you is that on the first day I drove it with the top down I burned my big ol' coconut knucklehead from the crazy California sunshine!  For now on, I will always have one of my Kangol caps in the trunk just in case!

For the last decade or so, I  have sort of prided myself of being a self sufficient, public transportation riding, city boy.  Regardless of what city it was, I just didn't want the hassle of having to DRIVE to work everyday.  Fast forward to NOW, the thought of NOT driving is just something not possible for living in the Los Angeles area.  It's urban sprawl run amok really and not so cute in most places.  Driving on the 101 freeway at night, however, with the top down on a clear night is most definitely CUTE!  I love my new (old) car!  :-)




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A lovely day.

It was a great day today in LA.  Sun and a cool breeze ... what more could you ask for????  The pic was taken across from the Santa Monica Pier.

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Be Mine.

Be Mine (Live @ Cherrytree)

Have I told you how much I love Robyn??!!?? Wow. I saw her last night perform songs from her new acoustic EP at Borders at Sunset and Vine. Apparently she was in town for the Grammy's in which she was nominated for one but didn't win. At the performance, she said that just being there was good enough because she didn't expect her album to be heard outside of Sweden. The link above is to one of the tracks on the EP. If you listen to the words you just want to give her a big ol' hug!

Happy _____.

Parol. from Michael Almacen on Vimeo
(you can mute the sound unless you wanna hear the dog bark)

I took the video above myself from my doorstep. It's called a parol and it's one of the Christmas decorations my family here put up on their house. I will spare you the continuous 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas' 8-bit Atari theme it comes with.  We were already spoken to by the neighbor.  

The holidays are interesting here in Southern California. As an east coast transplant, it's definitely a big plus that I don't have to deal with the bitter cold, inclement weather, and overcoats. It does become a lot cooler than average here, however. The scarves actually start to come out around October when the temps drop below 60 degrees Fahrenheit!  ;-)  Seriously, though, it does kind of creep up on you.  You notice it more at night because the temperature changes drastically.  60 degrees with the sun out in the day is a whole lot different than let's say 50 degrees at night ... by the beach.  Trust me.  By the time night rolls around, you are just not prepared for it with the coats and things.  Just call me a baby -- I'm sensitive!

Anyway -- it's the end of an old year and the start of a whole new one.  I've started to get a lot more blog readers.  For years I used to think that I wrote to myself.  Considering I really don't advertise my musings of a whole lot of nothing, it's not bad I guess.  Thank you to all of you who do read.  More comments would be most appreciated.  Making dj mixes has also become a new hobby of mine.  Give me another year -- I'm sure I'll improve a lot.  As for work ... well, it's work.  There are a few things brewing up for me to jump on when the time is right.  Either way -- it involves some change and will eventually be the deciding factor for me to continue living here in Los Angeles.  I've been here for more than 2 years and I'm ready for a change.  We'll just leave it at that for the time being.  What else ...... ?  Oh yeah, my relationship with my family has changed a lot (for the better) this past year.  We've gotten a lot closer despite being split between coasts.  My brothers are all grown up and adults now.  My parents are now both retired and have a lot of time on their hands as well.  With the birth of my new neice, they've mellowed out big time.  Good for them.  Better for us.  Ha!  Lastly, going back home to DC in late November gave me a big boost on my personal morale level.  Seeing my family again and hanging out with old friends again is something that I miss.  We'll see what happens soon to help remedy that.

The new year is definitely a time for change on many levels.  Without the triteness of setting resolutions, I just wish everyone the best and let's start this one out with a bang.  Happy New Year everyone!

Venice Beach.

I had the day off today and did a few errands in and out of the house.  Sometime in the late afternoon, I ended up walking around the Venice Boardwalk (see the live came here).  It was actually nice and partly sunny today and nowhere near the cold and wet we've been having lately.  Aside from a whole lot of tourists, street peformers, skateboarding kids, homeless folk, and your general spattering of plain old CRAZY people, it was actually kind of fun.  It's a definite 'tourist trap' with all of the vendors and stores selling t-shirts and sunglasses.  There was also a high number of smoke shops selling bongs and things.  I guess I know where to go now.  [just kidding ... REALLY].

Sunday afternoon.

I seem to be getting off on the picture taking lately, huh? Today was an absolutely gorgeous day in LA. The sun was out with a steady 'cool' temp range in the 50's ~~ most definitely on the colder side for us folks out here in California! Me and my friend Mike decided to grab our cameras and take pictures by the cliffs in an area called Palos Verdes. The area is pretty much on the southernmost tip of the LA area and just a short drive from my home and the area beaches. Believe it or not, Los Angeles can be more than a string of highways and bumper-to-bumper traffic. We spent most of the afternoon driving around and enjoying the afternoon. :-)

Burning Up.

Corner Century and La Cienega, 1600hrs, originally uploaded by flip4bearz.

No, it's not the early Madonna song from 1983. It's southern California! Well, parts of Orange County at least. The pic above was taken near my house at the corner of Century Boulevard and La Cienega Boulevard around 4:00pm. It WAS sunny a clear a while ago. A friend down on Long Beach (on the way to Orange County) texted me that smoke was filling the air and that ashes were falling. I told him to think of it as California 'snow'. He wasn't amused. The area where I live is complete urban sprawl. I'm pretty much safe from burning down and things. I just hope things work out okay for those affected by the fires.

Buddy Walk.

Yesterday was an awesome day here in the Los Angeles area. Aside from being a little off-kilter due to the daylight savings time change, it was a beautiful and (mostly) sunny day in the upper 60's / low 70's! I participated in the Buddy Walk for the Down Syndrome Association of Los Angeles (DSALA). It was a short distance walk held at the Santa Anita Racetrack that helped raise money and awareness to those who have Down syndrome. As for my little cousin Olivia, she had my uncle to carry her around the whole way! LOL. We just did one lap around the inner perimeter of the race track so it wasn't that bad. Accompanied by an estimated 2,000 others, it was a great day to be out with friends and family!

From Buddy Walk 2008

From Buddy Walk 2008

From Buddy Walk 2008

From Buddy Walk 2008

From Buddy Walk 2008

From Buddy Walk 2008

From Buddy Walk 2008