Go Sox!!!

I'm ok!

Hi there! Sorry about the lack of postings - the power cord for the computer that I usually upload my pics to broke and the one at work is being funky, so I haven't posted! I'm not close to the fires as the closest one is up in Malibu and a major freeway is in the middle, but I appreciate your concern! I'm off to get coffee...er...chai...at this local coffeehouse now and then later tonight S and I will be going to the Members Opening of the Murakami exhibit, but I will try and post stuff really really soon.

xoxo
B

Oopsy

I realize I haven't been blogging so much about my life lately, but more about general goings on, so I apologize about that for those of you who read my blog to read about me and not about well, real estate. It's just that I've been a little crabby lately (I think S and K can now imitate my grumbling perfectly), but I'm feeling much better (no thanks to the Sox) so I'll post some pics tonight, but for now, here's an update!

Last week a friend of mine from NY moved here, which is awesome! I took her to the mexican joint La Cabana - the place is awesome, just see laist.com - and then invited her and a bunch of my friends to a party S and I hosted Friday night. We were so pleased that everyone we invited showed up! We had a blind tasting of five different pumpkin ales (complete with brown bag to conceal what I was pouring) and here's how they ranked:

1. Kennebunkport Pumpkin Ale - crowd favorite
2. Shipyard - good, but might be too overpowering to drink more than one
3. Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale - this is pumpkin flavored?
4. Jack's Pumpkin Spice (made by anheiseur busch) - tastes like bananas
5. Buffalo Bill's pumpkin ale - Yuck. It has a sour taste.

Z didn't like any of them and opted to drink non-pumpkin ales Red Nectar and Black Dog for the rest of the night. While we were having the tasting, S was busy cooking his four completely homemade pizzas (margarita, bbq chicken, proscuitto and veggies, and mushroom pesto). He was disappointed they weren't as thin as he wanted, but they were very tasty, and everyone was impressed that he made them from scratch. There's still a few slices left, so I might nab two for lunch tomorrow.

After much eating and drinking, we all started to slow down a bit, setting the stage for...pumpkin painting! Everyone got their own pumpkin and we had both glitter glue pens and paint pens so all our friends went at it designing little pumpkin faces. We had prizes for the winners. B&M got a pair of gargoyles, D&S got a beaker full of skull-shaped candy, and Z got a skull pez dispenser.

The rest of the weekend was equally awesome. Saturday was pretty lazy. S and I went to the yarn store (holiday knitting has almost begun), discovered the rockabilly store Brat, then went back to watch the Cal game during which I mostly napped and played DS, until the Sox game started and I watched them choke against the Indians until I was sufficiently crabby and fell asleep. Nice guys. Nice. Sunday S and I went to see the Red Wings crush the Los Angeles Kings 4-1. I pulled a half-Puddy move and wore my jersey. Next time I'm totally going to think about painting my face.

Home Sweet Home?

So, I've been here exactly six months now, and I think my brain is official warped. I have somehow developed the impression that spending a million dollars on a home is not completely insane. So, here's the second home today that I found (it sold for 925,000) that I fell in love with, despite the fact it's in the english tudor style. I wasn't so much in love with all of the previous house, just the kitchen. But check this one out! Haunted? Probably. Great detail? Definitely. Um, there's a laundry chute for starters. I haven't enjoyed one of those since I was a kid!

Here's my favorite pics.

Guess Whose?

I love this kitchen. It's feminine with a bit of an edge, has plenty of counter and storage space and a large stove. Plus, I adore the two chandeliers and that some of the cabinets are fronted with glass. Gorgeous. It's also Marilyn Manson's. He recently listed his five-bedroom home for 1.1 million dollars. If I had the funds, and if it weren't in porn valley, I'd be interested. A great kitchen, a claw foot tub, and 4,500 square feet? Yes please!

Check it out and try to imagine it with better furnishings:
Marilyn Manson's Estate Listing

Band on the Run

Last night, I attended a screening of the documentary Heavy Metal in Baghdad. If you're familiar with Vice magazine or their online tv station VBS, you may already be familiar with the film, but for those who are not, here's a brief synopsis:

"Heavy Metal in Baghdad is a feature film documentary that follows the Iraqi heavy metal band Acrassicauda from the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 to the present day. Playing heavy metal in a Muslim country has always been a difficult (if not impossible) proposition but after Saddam’s regime was toppled, there was a brief moment for the band in which real freedom seemed possible. That hope was quickly dashed as their country fell into a bloody insurgency. From 2004-2007, Iraq disintegrated around them while Acrassicauda struggled to stay together and stay alive, always refusing to let their heavy metal dreams die. Their story echoes the unspoken hopes of an entire generation of young Iraqis."

The powerful film is a great insight into what Iraqi culture is really like. Though, of course, it too carries its own biases, it feels like a more honest glimpse into their reality than what we see on CNN, and the journalists behind it are really putting their lives on the line by going into Baghdad to tell this band's story.

The film is a must-see when it is released, but in the meantime, the band needs help. The director, Suroosh Alvi, explained last night that after fled Iraq for Syria their visas began to expire. Vice raised $10,000 at the Toronto film festival which bought the four transportation to Turkey where they are currently living and trying to get refugee status, which may help them later become refugees in Europe, the UK, or even America. They sold their instruments to pay rent and buy food. They aren't the only Iraqi citizens living in hardship, but if you want to help them out, the movie's official site (heavymetalinbaghdad.com) is taking paypal donations for them, and at least you will be able to see the impact your donation has.

What The?

New Yorkers would be very confused about the parking situation here in LA. I was. I took pictures of it. I'll post some. But here are the two main reasons why. In Los Angeles, drivers:

- park more than a foot, often feet, from each other so not to block another car in (one assumes this is for two reasons - one, so not to appear rude, and the second, so no one hits your car when they leave their spot)

- don't park particularly close to the curb. After years of parallel parking in NYC, I'm still under the impression the car has to be nearly touching the darn curb. My friends here think this is hilarious. (California law permits you to park up to 18 inches from the curb. New York? 12.)

One other nice touch - instead of trying to mentally figure out where you can park and where you can't (anyone who has a car in new york has made at least one "am I enough feet from the hydrant/bus stop" calcuation) the city has gone along and painted the curb red where you can't park, blue where buses can park, and green where you can park for short amounts of time (10 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, depending on what the curb reads).

Lincoln is what S calls an urban planner's nightmare. On the one hand, it is. The long stretch of road that reaches from Santa Monica to beyond LAX is a mishmash of shops that don't belong together. A signage shop sits squashed between a chiropractor's office and a vacant storefront, and a unique furniture store can be found near the local pinata merchant. Nothing fits together. And, despite the many stores that call this street home, it's desolate.

But it holds hidden gems. Take the furniture or pinata store - at one time, the woman who runs Mary's helped furnish one of the Urban Outfitters in the city. She repaints and repairs thrift store finds until recapture their original retro feel. I have two of her pieces. Or, even more intriguing, Lincoln Fabrics. This cavernous store is messy, disorganized, and one might suspect that some of these fabrics have been there since Nixon was in office. It's the kind of place that in New York would have sent me into a near panic attack. But despite the chaos, it's quiet, and though it takes a bit of digging to find anything useful, I found exactly what I needed there, instead of at a big chain. Also, of course, on Lincoln there resides one of my favorite local restaurants - Baby Blues BBQ. Despite my original assumption, corn smothered with cojita cheese is not a likely bet at most cuban places in LA. But they serve it here and it's delicious. Their sweet tea isn't half bad either.

I'm not sure what I think should be done with Lincoln. It seems like an inefficient use of city space as it is, but on the other hand, I'm not sure I want to see it filled cute boutiques either. I sort of like it's dirty charm, but maybe that's because I spent five years in New York.

Memberfied

Marketing works.

Last night, I got home and checked my mail. Within it was an envelope decorated with dozens of smiling flowers. To me, they were instantly recognizable - they were the work of my favorite living artist, Takashi Murakami. Inside the envelope was a poster of his work (both that and the envelope are now on the fridge) and an invitation to join the MOCA (one of LA's big art museums). I thought about it, then called them up to ask a few questions. What I found out was that essentially, I would get two memberships for the price of one. For the year I would get free admission to the museum and to all member openings and parties and I would get to bring a guest to everything. Plus I'd also get free parking (key in Los Angeles). But, of course, for me the real selling point was that I'd get to attend the members party for the upcoming Takashi Murakami exhibit on October 27th :)

So, now, I'm a member of an art museum. And here, for any of you who are not familiar, are some images of Murakami's work. He's been nicknamed the Japanese Andy Warhol (he screenprints but also uses one character, Mr. DoB, over and over again in his work) and while I love Warhol, I think the real reason I like his art is that it is extremely weird and fantastical, but also sort of akin to Alice in Wonderland (see mushrooms). I also find it interesting that while his pieces feel very contemporary, almost anime-style, he sometimes incorporates aspects of traditional Japanese art within the work.






Murakami also started an artists' collective called Kaikai Kiki, and within it is another artist, Chiho Aoshima, whose work I also enjoy. Here are a few of her pieces.

Send Photos Please!

Today Yahoo has posted a list of the top ten places to see the fall foliage...

Boston, Massachusetts
Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Block Island, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Portland, Maine
Ogunquit, Maine
Bar Harbor, Maine
Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts
North Conway, New Hampshire
Mystic, Connecticut

...somehow Los Angeles didn't make this list! What a bummer. So I'm asking all of you who live on the East Coast (or the Midwest) to please please send me photos of the fall foliage because I miss it.

A special note to JD - you're in photo school in New England, so I know you've got a chance to get some really gorgeous shots!

Thank you!

What Are You Wearing?

That was the question S asked me when we left the house last night. Recently, K had given me a shirt she no longer wore - a zip-up coverup that had a hood and pockets but not much of a back. It's perfect for the weather here in LA, but I hadn't had a chance to wear it yet, so I figured Ben Lee's record release party would be as good a place as any. S thought it was kind of weird, but it turns out it wasn't weird in a bad way, since one of Spin's writer/photographers snapped photos of us because she thought we were "cool looking."

Here's the pics!



And the link if you want to read our comments too :)
It Happened Last Night: Ben Lee

My Letter Opener is Cooler than Your Letter Opener.

No, really.

One Please

After the great wedding last week, I'm on a bit of a wedding kick, so bear with me. I was reading my usual blogs this morning, when I stumbled across this on the gaming blog Kotaku. If I get hitched and decide to have two cakes, this would be fun. Unless there was a way to make a Castlevania cake that wasn't morbid. Then again, I suppose I could have one of those made for a killer Halloween party instead!

Sew There!

Before last weekend, I had never used a sewing machine, for real, in my life. Or at least if I have, I've blocked it from my memory. I had been on the search for one for weeks as I wanted to attach handles to the bag I knitted S so he could use it at the farmer's market (see "Knitting Fiend" post soon), but I had no luck finding one. But, it turned out S's mom had one and she and I figured out how to set it up and I sewed for the first time! Thanks B!


Two hands! Oh god, I can't look!


Ok, phew.


The results? The handles turned out well. They're attached very securely to the bag. S's suit pocket for the wedding? Well, let's just say it works but the stitch line was very...um...creative. I can't imagine it'll become my new hobbym but it's a useful skill to know.

Wedding Wonders

I get it now.

This past weekend, S and I attended a wedding of a friend of his near San Jose. It's hard to put into words how beautiful this wedding was. The traditional Persian ceremony was held under a canopy of redwood trees just in front of a small pond, and the reception was outdoors on a lawn surrounded with gardens and another pond. Nearby was a stylized two-floor cabin where the beautiful couple held the cocktail hour and where the guests congregated following dinner (which consisted of a three-table buffet that allowed guests to choose between middle eastern cuisine, seafood, and american fare) for dancing and cake cutting. Oh, and there was also a small train that guests to take to tour the grounds. The event was festive and even though I was merely a guest, I felt very included.

Now, I've been down the wedding path on my own once before, and one of the things I was always panicking about was how much everything cost. Unless you're planning on eloping, weddings are expensive. I remember working out the budget, then reworking it, then reworking it yet again to try and shave off dollars here and there, but I couldn't seem to get it under 30K. Now, part of that is because of where I lived, how many people I wanted to invite, etc. Swallowing that number was very hard. All I kept thinking was - this is one day? Just one day and I'm spending this kind of money? It seemed wasteful. After all, it could serve as a down payment for a house. And though, if I do one day begin that trip down the aisle again, I'm not setting out to spend that much in a day, as I said, I get it now.

It's not really just one day. It's not like you went to the mall on Sunday and dropped 30K on a new wardrobe. This is a day that hopefully you will remember as one of the best days of your life. And, if done right, your guests will also pleasantly remember it for the rest of their lives. I remember my Aunt's wedding. I was the flower girl and they let me sit in the back of the limo and pour them champagne as it took them from the ceremony to their pool party reception where they tossed my mom in the pool, clothes and all. And I remember being a bridesmaid in my best friend's wedding. Having fun the night before, dancing my heart out, and telling her a joke in the bathroom to calm the beautiful bride's nerves. The day should be done right - it's one shot, and you don't want to look back and think, oh I wish I had done this or that - if at all possible, you should get it right the first time.

That brings me to my second wonder.

On the way back from lunch today, I saw a license plate that read "Ms. Joye." Was this her last name? Was this her husband or wife's last name with a Ms. tacked on in front? Hmm. It made me think. I've never planned on taking someone else's name. I like my own, professionally, it makes sense, and I don't agree with the concept of the woman always taking the man's name and giving up her own. I know plenty of people who have done it, it's just not for me. Except that what if I ended up meeting someone with a name I liked ::gasp:: better than my own? Hmm indeed. Would I just add theirs onto mine and go by both? Or just keep mine and accept that I was going to be called "Mrs (growl) so and so" no matter what I did? Or, alternatively, what if they had their mother's maiden name as their last name? Would it be more feminist of me to take their last name in that case as mine had been passed down along a paternal line? I don't really have an answer to this at the moment, nor is it really an issue at the present time anyway. But for now, I think I'll continue to stick with "Ms. [my last name here]."

Camera Control

S is an excellent photographer. Every time I lend him my camera, or we use his, we always end up with the best photos. Since my fam reads this blog sometimes, I'm putting these two he snapped at the wedding up for them. My eyes are a bit wonky in the first but the light is great.





Sometimes I've been known to take a good one of him too :)