The Santa Monica beach and Palisades Park, which overlooks the beach, are great democratizers. They're free, beautiful, and attract a wide demographic -- families, hipsters, buff guys working out on the free equipment, tattooed beach volleyball players, rollerbladers, etc.
Today I saw a guy on a recumbent two wheel bicycle talking on his cell phone on the bike path. Earlier I saw a dad helping his pint-sized son do pull ups as I embarrassed myself by failing to complete even half a pull up. Half an hour later I saw Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver walking along the footpath at Palisades Park, the only visible security a guy tagging along fifteen feet behind looking more like a tourist (in shorts) than a heavy. Maybe it's because Schwarzenegger has lived in LA since emigrating from Austria, but people seemed to be leaving the two alone, even though they are a very recognizable couple even when they're dressing and acting low key, which they were.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Funny personals
These were in the LA Times Magazine a few weeks ago:
SWM cultural imperialist foodie seeks goofy hipster hick to drive to San Gabriel so we can brag about being the only white people at a filthy C-grade restaurant.
(San Gabriel Valley is the place to go for plentiful, authentic Chinese food in LA. You can easily find places where you're the only non-Chinese speaker. It's a joke that contains a grain of truth that the tastiness of the food is inversely proportional to the health grade of the restaurant.)
Another one that gets right to the point:
Young and knocked up. Ex got locked up. Looking to start a family? No cons.
I'm not sure where in LA you can find wild pigs:
M4M 6'5", 30s ripped, seeks male companion for bow hunting and pig roast. You know -- the love only a warrior can share. Amateur butchering skills a plus.
SWM cultural imperialist foodie seeks goofy hipster hick to drive to San Gabriel so we can brag about being the only white people at a filthy C-grade restaurant.
(San Gabriel Valley is the place to go for plentiful, authentic Chinese food in LA. You can easily find places where you're the only non-Chinese speaker. It's a joke that contains a grain of truth that the tastiness of the food is inversely proportional to the health grade of the restaurant.)
Another one that gets right to the point:
Young and knocked up. Ex got locked up. Looking to start a family? No cons.
I'm not sure where in LA you can find wild pigs:
M4M 6'5", 30s ripped, seeks male companion for bow hunting and pig roast. You know -- the love only a warrior can share. Amateur butchering skills a plus.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
California Governor's race
My latest CQ Politics article on the California governor's race went online yesterday.
In a nutshell: Meg Whitman has major cred as a Silicon Valley CEO but her social networking (Twitter and Facebook) pales compared to Gavin Newsom; Newsom made a big splash with his Twitter announcement that he's running for governor but he has made some veiled comments about needing to make history instead of reliving seemingly aimed at former Gov. Jerry Brown, who is running again; there are some other Republicans who could give Whitman some competition; LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa probably will not be announcing that he's going to run via Twitter; if Feinstein gets in the race she becomes the heavy Democratic favorite.
In a nutshell: Meg Whitman has major cred as a Silicon Valley CEO but her social networking (Twitter and Facebook) pales compared to Gavin Newsom; Newsom made a big splash with his Twitter announcement that he's running for governor but he has made some veiled comments about needing to make history instead of reliving seemingly aimed at former Gov. Jerry Brown, who is running again; there are some other Republicans who could give Whitman some competition; LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa probably will not be announcing that he's going to run via Twitter; if Feinstein gets in the race she becomes the heavy Democratic favorite.
Monday, May 11, 2009
NYer
This doesn't really have California angle, other than I think I read once that the New Yorker has more California subscribers than New York subscribers.
Dan Baum used to be a staff writer for the New Yorker and he's currently tweeting the story of how he got fired in 2007. Among the interesting tidbits: he had to write 30,000 words per year for which he received $90,000.
Dan Baum used to be a staff writer for the New Yorker and he's currently tweeting the story of how he got fired in 2007. Among the interesting tidbits: he had to write 30,000 words per year for which he received $90,000.
Grunions
Last night I went on a grunion run by the Santa Monica pier. Grunions are little silver fish found only in southern California and Baja California.
They have a unique way of mating -- they spawn completely out of water, laying their eggs in the sand during high tide. The females come first and lay the egg then the males fertilize them. You are allowed to catch them only with your bare hands, but not during the closed season of April and May.
I knew nothing about grunions before tonight, but a friend who is a certified grunion greeter organized an outing so I decided to join. The peak time for observation was between 10:15pm-12:15am, perfect for my night owl schedule. Unfortunately, the grunions weren't active on our strip of sand. I didn't see it but there was apparently one grunion that came out to scout; alas, a seagull snapped it up. We asked Gwen if it would help if we scared the birds away, and when she said it might, my friend Mary took it upon herself to run over to the birds to shoo them away. (I should note that I would have done likewise had I not been so lazy.) Unfortunately at one point, there was a huge flock of birds on land, and a number of them took flight. But since there weren't any grunions anyway, a grunion massacre was averted.
Even though I didn't see any grunions, there are worse things than a night time stroll on the beach. And I'll get another chance May 26.
They have a unique way of mating -- they spawn completely out of water, laying their eggs in the sand during high tide. The females come first and lay the egg then the males fertilize them. You are allowed to catch them only with your bare hands, but not during the closed season of April and May.
I knew nothing about grunions before tonight, but a friend who is a certified grunion greeter organized an outing so I decided to join. The peak time for observation was between 10:15pm-12:15am, perfect for my night owl schedule. Unfortunately, the grunions weren't active on our strip of sand. I didn't see it but there was apparently one grunion that came out to scout; alas, a seagull snapped it up. We asked Gwen if it would help if we scared the birds away, and when she said it might, my friend Mary took it upon herself to run over to the birds to shoo them away. (I should note that I would have done likewise had I not been so lazy.) Unfortunately at one point, there was a huge flock of birds on land, and a number of them took flight. But since there weren't any grunions anyway, a grunion massacre was averted.
Even though I didn't see any grunions, there are worse things than a night time stroll on the beach. And I'll get another chance May 26.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Google's goats
I admit I just read this on TechCrunch but it was too hilarious not to share. In lieu of a lawnmower, Google has rented goats to mow the weeds and clear the brush.
"A herder brings about 200 goats and they spend roughly a week with us at Google, eating the grass and fertilizing at the same time. The goats are herded with the help of Jen, a border collie. It costs us about the same as mowing, and goats are a lot cuter to watch than lawn mowers," Google says on its official blog. TechCrunch has comment from PETA.
"A herder brings about 200 goats and they spend roughly a week with us at Google, eating the grass and fertilizing at the same time. The goats are herded with the help of Jen, a border collie. It costs us about the same as mowing, and goats are a lot cuter to watch than lawn mowers," Google says on its official blog. TechCrunch has comment from PETA.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Post-it car
Just a couple days after my Seinfeld sighting I saw an even more unique car covered in hundreds of Post-its. It was parked on Inglewood Blvd near Navy Street in West L.A. There was no writing on the Post-its so I don't know why it was decorated as such. Perhaps someone's temporary art car? Or an ode to someone obsessed with organization and to do lists?
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