Queenkv’s Brainpickings

COVINA, CALIF — Time flies when I back in So Cal with my family. We’re driving back to Nor Cal in a few hours.

I’m grateful many of them agreed to take a day off to sync up with my funky weekend schedule. My sleep schedule was also messed up. I’m sure I’ll be back to my graveyard existence in a day or so. Imagine me, walking around with the LA sun on my face and falling asleep at night with the hubby. It’s like I had a normal day job…or something.

A few brief notes on my weekend in So Cal before I head out for one more jogging excursion.

• The 5.5-hour drive down I-5 felt like a piece of cake.
• I ate too much good food. I also drank too much. Still, both activities are necessary and savored when I’m hanging out with my family. It’s a blessing to feel loved and accepted without the pressure of having to impress people and prove myself. Time outside of the newsroom can be a good thing.
• Meeting up with a former Kansas buddy and comparing our post-Topeka notes. He lives in a fantastic part of West Hollywood and sounds content.
• Running next to the Pacific was a dream come true. I loved breathing the ocean hair and leaving my shoe prints in the sand. Mark said it best, it was a recharging experience.
• Jennie, Scott and Kai! Yah!!!! I missed them so much! Kai likes to jump around and may be he would get along with Daisy. Then again, maybe not. Still, the humans had a fun and challenging time at the Lucky Strike Bowling alley at the Block. I shot some video with the Flip Camera and will post it in a bit.
• I loved the Mozart concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Beautiful music, balmy weather and an iconic LA setting.

No matter where we go - for work, school or pleasure - I feel my roots draw me back to So Cal.

As always, I wish I could stay longer.

A picnic at Hollywood Bowl, originally uploaded by queenkv.

I had a seared salmon and dim sum before the concert at the Hollywood Bowl. The soprano, Isabel Leonard, sounded lovely.

West Hollywood Food, originally uploaded by queenkv.

Amazing yummy food in West Ho

My hubby and I noticed Sara Bareilles has been popping up on the radio more frequently. He doesn’t get the hype, but I’m quite tickled to see her career take-off.

I fell in love with her music more than 2 years ago at a Hurricane Katrina Concert in Hollywood.

Hurricane Katrina Concert from Kris Vera-Phillips on Vimeo.

Bareilles was thrilled when she heard her song on the FM Dial…
YouTube - Sara Bareilles Love Song On The Radio For The First Time!!

• YouTube - University of Florida student Tasered at Kerry forum
  “University of Florida student Andrew Meyer is Tasered and arrested after causing a disturbance at a town hall forum, which featured Senator John Kerry, at the UF Auditorium on Sept. 17, 2007.”
  (tags: Florida politics taser police college)
• ABC News: Retired NFLers: League Not Playing Fair
  “The system is broken. Fix it. … The money is there,” Former NFL Coach Mike Ditka said. “Don’t make proud men beg. Don’t make them jump through hoops.”
  (tags: sports politics NFL football)
• TheMercury.com - Another Doggie Day Care in Kansas
  “After about 3 1/2 years working as head assistant for a local veterinarian, Kelly Neel said she saw a need in the community for a different form of canine care. It was then that she decided to open Howl-A-Dayz Inn and Daycare, an interactive center for d
  (tags: Kansas dogs daycare)
• Ban says Taiwan’s UN bid legally impossible
  “At issue is whether Taiwan is part of China or not. Beijing says it is and has threatened to attack the island if it declares independence. U.N. membership could be considered a move toward independence.”
  (tags: China Taiwan politics UnitedNations independence)
• ABC News: Why Did Fox Cut Off Sally Field’s Speech?
  “That’s when the sound and picture cut out, leaving Emmy viewers across the country to wonder what Field said. She reportedly concluded that sentence with “damn wars,” but Fox, airing the Emmys on a time-delay, did not cut back to the stage after Field fi
  (tags: hollywood emmy censor)

Watching a Travel Channel show on Los Angeles. I’m a sucker for specials that open up a window to open. L.A. Story, Top Chef Season 2, Shop Girl, Monk (for a window to the Bay Area) and pretty much anything for a glimpse of home.

This weekend, I indulged in the feel of home as my family headed to New York for Matt and Maria’s Wedding. I spent four days eating good food, meeting wonderful people and letting what’s left of my hair down.

It was a pleasure to be surrounded by family and celebrating my beautiful cousin and her Long Island family.

originally uploaded by queenkv.

Her baby, Mee-Jay, looked adorable in his tux!

originally uploaded by queenkv.

The bridal party woke-up at 5 AM to make themselves beautiful. It seemed like they used every minute before the wedding to take care of details for the bride.

originally uploaded by queenkv.

originally uploaded by queenkv.

Of course, this wedding was something like covering a Hollywood power couple — flash bulbs sparkling at every turn and everyone had their cameras out. So…I’ll get around to posting more pictures of the wedding and food…later.

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[from http://www.hollywood-north.net/]

James Doohan passed away yesterday morning. He was 85. The Canadien-born actor is best known for the role of Scotty, on the Orginal Star Trek Series and movies. He also made a cameo apperance on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The dude was such an inspiration - to a generation of scientists and engineers - even some of the brain dudes at NASA. He, along with the Enterprise crew, made TV viewers believe they could be more than just Earth-bound.

I like this picture of Scotty - ’cause my bro and I once starred as Enterprise engineers at the Star Trek Experience in Universal Studios. That was the best attraction - ever. We have a tape of the show we did…along with my skating buddy, Megan. She was pretty enough to be casted on bridge. My dad was casted as a Klignon. Go dad! Apparently, the little Klignon dog got hungry and ate my dad’s arm.

As engineers, my bro and I wore the super-cool engineer uniforms, like Scotty. The director told us to bang at the boards….like we were keying in stuff to the computer. Then to pull at our hair after 10 seconds. Finally, we had to choke each other. Easy. We’re brother and sister after all. So, I guess whatever happened to the starship…well it was engineerings fault. Since I’m the older sister, I’m sure my little bro screwed something up.

In any event, I miss Scotty.

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sleaterk, originally uploaded by queenkv.

Roughly speaking…we’re getting ready to go to Vegas. I havea quick stop at the radio station and then we’re on our way. My dad got plane tickets to Chicago - from LAS….for some reason, it’s about $100 cheaper to fly from Vegas. It’s only four hours away…might as well.

Last week, Mark scored some free tickets to the Sleater Kinney concert in Hollywood. Mary Timony opened for them. She created this awesome lush sound with only her guitar and drummer. Mark said it was like Sonic Youth. We picked up her CD and I liked the studio recording better than the concert. During the concert, most of her tunes kinda mushed into each other…difficult to discern….but some people get off on difficult music. So there you go.

The crowd gave Sleater Kinney a warm LA welcome. This all-grrrl band gave a shout-out to the front row folks who followed them on their West Coast tour. Sleater Kinney’s music blew me away - sharp, loud, catchy and sassy. They rocked. The guitar riffs lifted up the vocals and vice versa. The tunes left me giddy. My ears almost hurt…but in a good way. We also picked up one of their CD’s.

We totally got our money’s worth from this concert…and more.

Parking lots charged around $6.00. Not bad for LA - then again…it was only a week night. We found free street parking by Ms. Hepburn’s star. We had pre-concert drinks and munchies at Hollywood and Vine.

Before the concert - we did a yoga class at Insight Yoga in Pasadena. A little relaxation did us some good before the rockin’ venue. This is the view from the courtyard….where the studio is located. It’s soothing locale - with vines and roses climbing up the brick walls. I think the studio is in what used to be a church. It still has some stain glass pictures and high arched ceilings.

This is out side the radio station where I volunteer. It’s next to an art museum. You can’t hear the street traffic in this place. Even when it’s something like 80 degrees outside - this little garden is like a cool breeze. I haven’t seen any homeless people wandering the campus. It’s so different from Berkeley’s station…..and yet…the programming is similar - alternative…non-mainstream…college radio.

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[from allposters.com]

Mark and I saw Layer Cake last Saturday night. Back in London - Layer Cake posters covered the Tube stops. Every morning - on my way to the Oxford Circus station - I passed the FCUK store. Layer Cake ads made it into this store as well….just like in the movie. So, thanks to a decent British ad campaign - my brain was washed just enough to be curious about the first film directed by Matthew Vaughn. The dude also produced Lock, Stock and Smoking Barrel.

The film had plenty of subplots weaving in an out of the layered theme - society, the criminal underground, professional courtesy and more. By American standards, it’s unconventional and quirky - which makes it a refreshing change for Hollywood formula flicks. (Lord knows I still have a special place in my heart for those movies, especially the chick flicks - and I couldn’t convince Mark to watch “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.” “Watch it when you’re mad at me,” he said.) Layer Cake get’s gory - but it doesn’t celebrate the violence. Overall, I thought it the story was clever, the actors were first-rate and the action got my blood-pumping.

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We took Andre to Newport Beach. Louie said he didn’t want to go to the beach….because it was hot. Polar Bears like Louie like the cold.

Andre likes the beach. He’s a Cali bear after all. Apparently, everyone had the same idea to go to the beach on Memorial Day…grrr…so parking was a bitch. We found a spot - closer to the Balboa penisula. Then I did a ten-minute walk to a liquor store for quarters. I passed a laundry mat where parking went for $20. At the liqour store - an asshole who could have walked off the set of the ‘OC’ cut in line and asked the manager: “Are you the manager here?” when the dude nodded, the asshole asked: “Can I pay you $50 to park here?” The manager told him he needed the spots of his customers….I almos blurted out about the parking spots at the laundry mat. By the time I walked back to the car - I passed the laundry mat - all the spots were taken by other ‘OC’ wanna be’s.

After paying for parking - I had to pee. We walked by the beach for about 1/2 an hour until we could find some public restrooms. Then I figured I could hold it until we could get out to the pier - for food and drinks. We found a lobster bar and grill. They served all you can eat caesar salads and salsa - with their meals. Yum. I got the lobster tacos. the lobster pieces were fried up and they had a great light and juicy flavor.

After lunch - we walked another 30 minutes back to where the car was parked. We walked towards the water and found a spot to roll out the towels and read by the Pacific Ocean. We brought the sun block to protect Mark’s fair skin…it worked for the most part. Andre had problems putting on sun block because of his stubby paws. After reading a few chapters of Anne Lamott’s “Blue Show”, I ended up falling asleep in Mark’s lap.

At the beginning of the Memorial Weekend - we met-up with Bijan on Sunset Blvd. I took them to the House of Blues for drinks - eeck! It was $18 for a glass of Pinot Noir and a beer. Rip off! Still, they enjoyed the swank, goth interior of the bar area.

We had a bitch of a time with parking. I didn’t want us paying $15 for a spot on the strip. We also saw a sign warning that “cruisers” will be ticketed. If you passed by the hoity-toity part of the Strip, more than 2 in an hour - a cop will pull you over. And there were plenty of cops covering the strip. They were also giving out jaywalking tix.

We found a lot by Tower Records - charging $6.

Bijan took us to Miyagi’s Restaurant.

[from coolstreets.redhare.com]

By day’s it’s a restaurant and by night - it’s a dance club. According to coolstreets.redhare.com - Humphrey Bogart, Howard Hughes, Orson Wells and other Hollywood hot shots used to visit the restaurant.

We grabbed a table on the dance floor - as the bouncers cleared out the other tables. Bijan loved being next to the action. And action tends to find Bijan - lucky bastard. One red-head dressed like a gypsy dragged him to the bar and forced him to buy her a drink. Earlier - she was dancing on top of the bar. Another girl…asked for his name and later…I told her to ask him to dance. We ordered yummy sushi - I got some tuna rolls. Bijan ordered a mess of sushi - including this buttery-tasting salmon sashimi. To finish up eating - we did sake bombs. We balanced the sake shots over the Saporro beer with chopsticks. Then we slammed down on the table and the shots bombed into the beer. Yum.

Miyagi’s has three floors of fun - the top level being the crazy one. We met a nice Korean-Irish bartender on the first floor…her name’s Erin. She made us shots of a fruity drink she invented.

Mark and I ended up on the second floor to chill out. Then we got into a tiff. I went off to the bathroom and then decided to go for a walk.

I ended up at the Comedy Store.

[from http://www.magazineusa.com]

I saw the ends of the worst comedy acts - ever. One guy ended up calling up another comic who liked to sing to crappy pop tunes. Both decided to rag on me for being alone. I flipped them off. The singing comic brought up some chicks from Norway to tell jokes - since he was bombing…he figured he could get some laughs and his jollies off the blonds. I sat, waiting for a drink…and left…with my throat dry. I figured I could come up with better material then these losers….When an audience member yelled: “Get a real job” - the comic yelled back: “I only work an hour a day!”

Yeah, I can tell the comedy thing is working out for this guy doing the 1 AM shift at the Comedy Store. Talk about illusions of gradneur.

Mark and Bijan met up with me at Mel’s. I tried ordering a Corona to go with my Chicken Pot Pie. The waiter told me they didn’t serve alcohol after ! AM. Grrr. Then he told me they were out of chicken pot pies - I ended up with a shepherd’s pie instead.

The next day - Mark and I made up.

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