Why We Fight

August 13th, 2006General0 comments

I’m out of the pop culture loop a lot these days so here are some things that I missed:

Conan O’Brien looks like the President of Finland. And on this subject, Conan is interviewed by Finland’s equivalent of Good Morning America and also by two Finnish kids.

Conan and the President of Finland.

30 Days with Morgan Spurlock: Surprisingly interesting. Although they need to do a show where a skinhead lives with a Rabbi. Or where a soldier from the future lives with Terminators.

Cyril Takayama: Awesome Japanese magician. Dave turned me on to this guy, and he’s pretty amazing.

Leaving for Chicago soon. I am preparing for my trip by listening to Sufjan Stevens and topping my hot dogs with the complete contents of a salad bar.

I think I may have some free time to look around, so I’m going to check out the bean and the Field Museum. Then I’m going to dust Cameron’s Dad’s sportscar with a diaper.

Bean.

And now for something completely different, for obvious reasons this picture makes me insanely happy:

“No comment.”

Repo Man

August 8th, 2006General0 comments

“It happens sometimes. People just explode. Natural causes.”

If there is any movie that should be remade into an awesome Playstation videogame, it is Repo Man, the 1984 cult classic featuring Emilio Estevez. It’s full of so many wonderful details that it could’ve only been the product of love.

Otto Maddox (Emilio Estevez).

“A repo man spends his life getting into tense situations.”

Otto (Emilio Estevez), a young punk with no future and hypnotized-by-Jesus parents, becomes a repo man — essentially a legal car thief, roaming L.A. out to repossess the autos of deadbeats. He is taught the Repo Man Code, a revised version of Asimov’s Three Robotic Laws.

This movie also contains the following: UFO conspiracy theories, philosophical conversations about time and space, punk criminals, a theme song by Iggy Pop, a one-eyed mad scientist, and glowing alien corpses in the trunk of a ’64 Chevy Mailbu that vaporize people with radiation.

On paper, these elements probably make Repo Man the greatest movie ever made.

“I don’t ride with anybody ‘less they wear their seatbelt. It’s one of my rules.”

It’s a low-budge flick but it more than makes up for it with its humor, wicked irony, and weirdness.

There’s a rule of thumb to being weird and quirky: Be consistent. Don’t draw attention to your own quirkiness — just be true to it. It’s the same rule of thumb for being cool.

And Repo Man has both cool and quirky in enormous amounts. It’s a must-see cult film, and the cult must stay alive.

And the Best Thing About This Movie: [SPOILERS FOLLOW!!!]

It shares the same ending with Grease: People flying away in a car. And flying away in a car is the greatest movie ending imaginable by human beings.

My 75 Favorite Films

Is Nice

August 7th, 2006General0 comments

Field Trip Report: California Science Center

Dave lifts truck using the magic of Levers.

Nestled by USC is the California Science Center, a kid-centric science complex reminiscent of the Yay Area’s Exploratorium. Inside are all sorts of hands-on scientific experiments that you can fiddle with.

There’s also an IMAX theater. The current show, Deep Sea 3D, should not be missed. Kate Winslet gives the show a pleasant-to-listen-to commentary while snarky narration is provided by Johnny Depp. Plus they put in some awesome foleying for when octopi eat crabs (“CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH!”).

YES IT IS THE LOOK THIS SEASON

Thanks for the pics, Rick!

I have realized that one of my dream jobs would be to be the host of a science TV show where I get to do cool experiments and blow things up. Or be an astronaut. Either profession would be totally acceptable to me.

Is nice! I like!

Entrepreneurs

August 4th, 2006General2 comments

This country was founded by entrepreneurs. Technically, the entire country’s business plan is based on entrepreneurship — “no taxation without representation” and such.

A lot of the late 20th century’s technological achievements were prototyped in parents’ garages. The Two Steves putting together the first wooden Apple I. Hewlett and Packard. Ben and Jerry.

And the spirit of entrepreneurshship is still alive. Now there’s Pinkberry.

Dave said that Pinkberry is a good product that is streamlined and packaged in the perfect location. It’s the “perfect storm” of ideas coming together — good product, little waste, made simple and easy. I can just imagine the hippie from The Simpsons saying, “SIMPLIFY, MAN!”

A Pinkberry is opening in Westwood. On opening day, let’s crowd that mother.

Also, via Poe-News, America’s Littlest Drug-Sniffing Dog:

With tiny flak jacket.

Lost Boys

August 2nd, 2006General0 comments

Internet Treasure: www.curatingthecity.org

Curating the City.

What is www.curatingthecity.org? It’s a pretty fantastic Flash-based online exhibit detailing the history of Wilshire Boulevard and all the landmarks you’ll find on it.

For instance, just down the street is Westwood Memorial Park, a hidden cemetary where Marilyn Monroe is buried. Other landmarks include the Wilshire Theater, The Beverly Hilton, and the May Co. Building. The archive of photographs on the site are amazing.

My favorite stop on Wilshire: The La Brea Tar Pits.

It’s the pits!

In L.A., I feel like we live among the ruins of a vast and ancient civilization with awesome art deco/modern architecture all around us. There are also a lot of haunted places in L.A., like The Comedy Store.

This city is pretty obsessed with the Now but it’s also extremely well tied to its past.

Your Fortune

August 1st, 2006General0 comments

Above: Either the most facetious or the most sycophantic fortune I’ve ever gotten out of a cookie. Not just the life of “the” party, but of ANY party! Like I could go to a party for Vermont dentists or to one for the Hell’s Angels and be the life of the party at either. I can only dream of having those skills.

Fortune mocks me!

This is my life right now:

Ronald Reagan stamps purchased at the post office — because how can you not want to win one for the Gipper?

Installing Windoze XP on my Macbook — because prototyping and testing sites on IE, Firefox, and Safari all on the same machine is Nerdvana.

Meeting new people: Because new people are fantastic, especially if they have pups.