Monday, November 25, 2002

ok, the super design stars (design superstars) were amy and josh from futurefarmers. sheesh. amy's work i had admired forever and a day, and i had no idea that josh did they rule , which is one of THE best data visualizations I have ever seen in my entire life. That sounds super dorky, but look at it and like diarrhea tugging you towards the loo, you will have no choice but to agree.

Sunday, November 17, 2002

Just one of the many ways that the internet is making me dumber.
I was driving to Chinatown last night to meet up with two design superstars (whose names I can't even bring myself to mention), who we will be entertaining all week at the death star. Now, I've lived in Los Angeles for a long time, but I rarely make it over to Chinatown, mostly because there really isn't much there that you can't get elsewhere in this hugemongous city.

Since my income does not allow me to own an in-dash dvd navigation system or a live-in sherpa, I must consult mapquest or mapblast! (my preferred choice, they seem a little more excitable, i don't know what it is about them) for driving directions when I'm going somewhere I'm unfamiliar with. Easy peasy, you type in the starting point (usually home or work), and your destination (usually someplace that is not home or work), and it spits out turn-by-turn directions which you can print out and consult as you're driving.

This is all fine and dandy, but if you're like me, and you've printed out directions for every place that you've driven to in the past few years, you'll notice a couple of things:
1) It's dangerous. Last night, while driving at 85mph talking on the phone and scrolling through thousands of songs on the iPod, I momentarily misplaced my sheet of driving directions among the several thousand others I have in my car from all the other places I've driven in the past few years, and realized that maybe I was multi-tasking a little too much.
2) You lose all sense of direction. I know i've printed out directions to chinatown at least 3 times and by that rationale, I should know that it's off the hill street exit on the 110, but since it's become so fricking easy, you just don't pay attention anymore.

Oh well, fuck it.

Thursday, November 14, 2002

What do you get when you cross a swede with a cholo?"
So now that Ingrid and I have settled down for the long run, I decided I might buy her something nice, so I was looking around some Volvo sites for something kinda sexy, and I found a bunch of pictures that people have taken of their Volvos. In amongst the teeny-tiny thumbnail images of other Volvos, I saw one that looked just like my sweet little baby, and I clicked on it. Holy shit. What the hell is that all about? It's a Volvo STATION WAGON FOR CHRISSAKES, NOT A '66 IMPALA.

new layout!
Unless you are visually impaired and have your computer read this blog to you in one of those computery/Stephen Hawkings-type voices or better yet have your girlfriend (or boyfriend, wife or husband, fine) read this blog to you out loud while your eyes are closed and she strokes your hair, then you'll no doubt notice the new layout, which is a bit easier to read. It's temporary, while I'm designing my own super-custom layout, but for now, it'll do.

I do this for you, my readership, who at best guess seem to be a couple of people that I've told about the site personally and some Canadians following links around the internet.

Monday, November 11, 2002

WOW. The sun is O U T. For all the rejoicing about gray skies and rain and whatnot last week, and even though the familiar brown layer has come back to the sky today, it's days like this that make you say "Boy, it's damn fine to be here." Let's go grub some money!

Sunday, November 10, 2002

Dear Friend (this means you),

I've created a slideshow using .Mac Slides Publisher that I want to share with you. (this serves the purpose of not having the time to write anything because it's so damn beautiful outside today)

To subscribe to my slideshow, just follow these instructions:

1. Make sure you have Mac OS X version 10.2 or later installed, and you're connected to the Internet. (take notice, i am at the forefront of geektech)
2. Open System Preferences and click Screen Effects.
3. Select .Mac in the list of available screen savers.
4. Click the Configure button and enter "sx70" in the Member Name box. Then click OK.

Now sit back and enjoy. My slideshow will appear the next time your screen saver is activated. When you are connected to the Internet, you'll automatically receive any updates I've made to the slideshow. (updates will be often)

For more information about Mac OS X, visit Apple at http://www.apple.com/macosx

Friday, November 08, 2002

I wasn't going to do a weather-related post, I promised myself, especially since a Very Well Known blog did one earlier today, but now I've gotten all riled up.

It's raining here in Los Angeles, it's even raining down here in the South Bay, where I work. It doesn't rain much here, it didn't rain for shit last year and finally we get some rain. BUT IF I HEAR ONE MORE PERSON LOWER THEIR VOICE AND SAY "OOH, IT'S GONNA SAY STORMWATCH 2002 ON THE NEWS TONIGHT, HAR HAR HAR", I AM GOING TO PUKE.
That's called "shooting fish in a barrel" folks, and it ain't fucking funny.

Wednesday, November 06, 2002

Los Angeles Sur La Bicyclette
I was understandably antsy after my normally 45 minute commute from behemoth workplace to the bagel belt turned into an hour-plus yesterday, and since i'm detoxing from the past two weeks of (insert vice here), I could not rely on my usual coping mechanisms. My second choice, the massage with the happy ending cost too much, and besides, I had a pretty good parking space so that was out of the question. So, I decided to ride my bike.

Bicycling in Los Angeles is right up there on the list with walking, taking the bus, smoking, being open and honest, and wearing light-colored jeans as one of those things that you don't do. After all, why would you a) get your shoes dirty, b) ride if you can drive, c) mess up your hair, d) be seen as someone who can't afford a car, or worse, e) get run over and killed? It actually can be tremendously difficult, especially in relation to somewhere like Manhattan, where people don't actually go into driveways, the streets are laid out in a grid, and the cars are all yellow and a thousand times easier to see than the cars here, especially at night.

Anyway, seeing it up close last night and not from a car window at 40mph was nice and calming. I rode by a bunch of things that I would miss if I moved to Canada. Doughboys, Room Service, Newsroom, Union, kBond, El Carmen, King's Road Cafe--Maybe I won't move. But then again, maybe if i didn't go to those places I would still have $.

addendum: i'm not name-dropping, i'm just saying. sheesh

Tuesday, November 05, 2002

Over the weekend, 8 of the hours that weren't spent playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City or frolicking ecstatically with friends and new friends or paying off sleep debt were spent sitting in movie theaters. Those who know me well know that I hate talking about film in general, so much so that I patently refuse to talk about a movie withing 100 yards of the theater after walking out, but since you're reading this on your own volition, I figure it gives me the right.

In any case, two of those hours were spent Saturday watching "Bowling for Columbine", the new Michael Moore film. I highly recommend it, if only because it might change your mind about whether or not scruffy, obese men can squeeze out more than one good documentary. But seriously, it was great in that makes-you-really-question-a-lot-of-things-to-the-point-where-you-want-to-do-something-about-it kind of way. I will try to not wreck the movie for those who haven't seen it (not that there is some sort of crazy "he's really her brother and their father is the evil guy" kind of plot twist), and will just assume (you and me, we're asses) that the rock you happen to live under is within crawling distance of the 24 theaters in the country that are playing it and you've gone and seen it. It wasn't so much about the gun issue as it was about the U.S. and our society driven by fear. Sensational stories about people killing and stealing beget high ratings. High ratings allow media to sell advertising space. Advertising strikes fear into your heart, making you believe that you can't talk to the girl on the street because you don't drive a Lexus or use the right toothpaste or your furniture isn't shiny enough because you don't use the latest waxy wood cleaner. Fear, spoon-fed by our sensationalistic media and our money hungry advertisers and corporations--oh yeah, that's me. I make a decent living working for a large make-you-buy-things-kind-of-place, making people aspire to unattainable lifestyles, overextending themselves, making them feel bad for not having what I have to sell them. Great.
Having said all that, do you want to maybe move to Canada with me? I'm thinking about leaving my doors unlocked somewhere in Vancouver. There's good snowboarding there, good concrete skateparks, and it's a relatively nice, new city. I realize it's pretty far from Graceland, but it's close to Seattle, and I like Nirvana more than I like Elvis, so that doesn't matter too much. It's close to Los Angeles too, so we could visit our friends here. Oh, maybe you don't have any friends here, but we could visit MY friends here. If you're a girl, and we get to like each other, maybe we could visit my family too. All the recent garbage about my loving Los Angeles has just gone out the window, because I think I love Canada now, and I'm now, I'm not sure I'm entirely happy about what I do.

Monday, November 04, 2002

ahhhh, there i am. feeling great, thanks for asking.

Halloween has come and gone, and once again I have to ask: What's so fucking great about it?

This year, I did not celebrate my inner catholic priest, cheerleader, policeman, fire fighter, kool-aid man, square-pants-wearing cartoon character or sports mascot, I spent halloween like I always do--actually, I spent it like I spend the other 364 days of the year, getting drunk for free at The Standard Downtown. (I don't spend all year drinking at The Standard, Actually.I'm not even sure I like The Standard. I do drink elsewhere, it's just on Halloween night that I happened to be there and, oh you get the idea anyway) I figured it was the dignified thing to do. I mean, it's not as if I don't have the wherewithal or creativity to come up with a costume, I'm a designer ferchrissakes and I have plenty of wherewithal. Plenty. I mean, there was that crazy-rocker guy costume I had the one year, and then the super-great Beastie Boys costume that one year, and that same night, I went to another party dressed as--uh... um... well...

I think it may have been the time I was forced to dress as Ginger Spice that ruined it for me, I'm going to have to have that checked out.