Wednesday, September 21, 2011

poem

There's nothing I hate more-a
Than a man in a fedora

(just sos you know, you gots to get yourself a MFA or a GSW to the chest before you can drop a rhyme like that. son!)

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Emmys

Dream winners:

Best Drama: The Good Wife. I love FNL, but I think it missed its shot.

Best Comedy: Since neither Community or Louie is on the ballot, it's either Parks & Recreation or Big Bang Theory for me.

Best Actor, Drama: Can't we just give it to Bryan Cranston anyway? Really, no? Jon Hamm's gonna get it, but that's only because I don't think anyone remembers Hugh Laurie STILL has never won an Emmy for House.

Best Actress, Drama: Julianna Margulies.

Best Actor, Comedy: Jim Parsons has his Emmy, he didn't do anything spectacular last season, so he's not gonna get it, and neither will Galecki. Carell doesn't really need it, but he'll probably get it. LeBlanc has no shot in hell, though he MAKES Episodes. Louie C.K. deserves it for this current season, not the last one, but I'd like him to get it anyway.

Best Actress, Comedy: I'm split between Amy and Martha. I love them both so.

Supporting Actor, Drama: Alan Cumming.

Supporting Actor, Comedy: Since no one from Parks or Community got the nod (A CRIME), Ty Burrell.

Supporting Actress, Comedy: No one from Cougar Town? Jesus, come on. I don't care.

Supporting Actress, Drama: I like Archie Punjabi.

Writing for a Comedy: The Office or Louie.

Writing for a Drama: FNL. It won't get it, but a girl can dream.

Lead Actress in a miniseries: Since I didn't see Mildred Pierce, I'm gonna assume Downton Abbey owns the miniseries part of the awards, and rightly so. But I'm guessing Kate Winslet takes it from McGovern.

Lead Actor in a miniseries: Idris Elba, Luther, must, must.

Supporting Actor, miniseries: I didn't see any of these, but I never bet against Brian F. O'Byrne.

Supporting Actress, miniseries: No clue. I had assumed Michelle Dockery or Ruth Wilson would be nominated here or in lead. So whatever.

Miniseries or movie: Downton Abbey.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

San Francisco

I've been too busy to write this post, but about two weeks ago I spent a long weekend in San Francisco and had a great time.

Awesome stuff:

Coit Tower.

Holy shit is that a trek. At this point, we didn't realize how many stairs we STILL had to go up to get to Coit. I was ready to vomit.

Still, it's satisfying to get to the top. Little tip: the elevator up is more exciting then the actual top of the tower, which has tiny high plastic-covered windows and isn't architecturally interesting. The view from the base is better.
A view of the Bay Bridge:

View of the Transamerica building:



San Francisco Street Food Festival in the Mission. I had the Fennel Crusted Chicken Sandwich from Skillet Street Food and it may be the best chicken sandwich I've ever had. Trust. I also finished my friend's Sweet Potato Pie Waffle from Pinx with pleasure.

Mehfil Indian Cuisine in SoMa. The murag makhni was the living end.

San Francisco lawyers. My college roommate who lives in SF is very sweet, but no one has the right to have such a large coterie of awesome friends who are also lawyers. It's kind of unfair.

Russian sailors in town. I was at a Starbucks, and this was taken through a glass window, hence the smudge on the sailor on the left, who looks 14.


The Ferry Building. I didn't take much stock in it last time, but I went again this visit (during normal hours) and had a great time.

Other stuff:

Humphrey Slocombe in the Mission. I got the brown butter ice cream (yes, having tasted it) and malted milk chocolate, and, yes, the texture was great and the flavors were interesting. But I'd rather the flavors were, you know, yummy then interesting.


Umbria in SoMa. We had eaten A LOT of bread and cheese beforehand (courtesy of Acme and Cowgirl from the Ferry Building), so I couldn't bring myself to partake in the delicious-looking bread basket. But I did get a plate of pasta, specifically Pennette Al'Arrabbiata. Now spicy food doesn't bother me. I get hot salsa, I eat spicy Indian food, I am unfazed. This Arrabbiata almost killed me. So order something else or bring a fire engine, because I'm the only warning you're getting.

House of Air. Organized trampolining. It is fun for, like, five minutes. Then some kid breaks his nose and bleeds everywhere and NO ONE cleans it up. But you get a little rubber bracelet out of it, which I like. It's located near Crissy Field, so at least I got this shot.

Catalina

I went to Avalon on the island of Catalina yesterday for my birthday. The ferry to the island is running a promotion this year where you get to go for free on your birthday if you sign up in advance, so I did, and it was awesome.

Most people I think stick to the little village by the bay, the beaches, the restaurants, the shopping.
Here's the colorful fountain front and center of the bay.


Almost as soon as I got off the boat, I walked the almost two miles to the Wrigley Memorial and Botanical Gardens.

The gardens are really only interesting if you're super into cacti, but the Memorial is very lovely and kind of reminded me of Coit Tower, which I visited last month when I was in SF.
Coit, however, doesn't have this beautiful tiled fountain set into its what do you call it? Mezzanine?

The entrance.

I kept getting distracted by birthday phone calls (a good distraction, though my uncle and I somehow got onto a conversation about how one should defend oneself against the LA County wildlife--coyotes, mountain lions, the occasional bear--and I had to explain to him that fire and shotguns were super bad ideas). Anyway, I didn't get a really great picture of the tower from the base because of the light, but also I didn't get a great entrance shot because I shot that picture, got a phone call, and then forgot to take more, better ones. iPhones are great, but they're not miracle workers. However, I'm guessing it's only a matter of time before there's an app for that.
Here's the view from the top.

Tower closeup:


On the way back, I tripped on some gravel and scraped up my hands. The people at the Conservancy, which is about 1/4 mile from the Gardens provided me with Neosporin and a Band-Aid. They also have free bathrooms and a water fountain.

When I got back to "downtown Avalaon", I had a late lunch at El Galleon, which is decorated in proper pirate ship-style (re: super cheesy). I had fish and chips, because the fish was halibut, but it was not great.


The bathroom, however? Pretty cool.


After lunch, I decided to head down to the Casino.

Not surprisingly this is how you get to the Casino.


Next to the arch was the sign for the street.


Along the via were little mosaics. Here are a couple.



You can only go into the casino for the evening movie (there's a single screen theater that shows something at night, last night it was The Help), for an event, a pricey walking tour, or if you go into the museum, which featured an exhibit on Marilyn Monroe. I was feeling cheap, so I did a circuit around the gift shop and went back to the village.

After that, I did a little shopping, bought an ice cream cone (all the shops serve Dreyer's, but whatever), and waited for the ferry back.

At the end of a choppy ride back to San Pedro, the fountain light show was playing. I would have taken a photo but I had killed my battery in Avalon. The Port of LA might not be able to help its grossness, but the Bellagio-like fountain was pretty awesome and was a nice ending for my birthday.
In summing up, I wish I had some kind of affirmative message to leave you with. I don't. Would you take two negative messages?
-- Woody Allen