Mr T Snickers

Nice commercials fellas... Mr T is back.

ad that didn't happen

This one was left on the cutting room floor. Good riddance.

Hong An 7 Courses of Beef

Hong An 7 Courses of Beef
9862 Westminster ste.
Garden Grove, CA 92843

phone 714-534-5384



Who says that the best dining in Southern California needs to be on the West side or even in Los Angeles? Much less than an hour south, there are hundreds of great Asian food offerings. This month, we take you to scenic Garden Grove, California. Close to Westminster, the Vietnamese enclave, is an unassuming restaurant called Hong An which serves Bo Bay Mon (literal translation: Beef Seven Courses). Once served only at weddings, this special feast is now available every day.

Before you think about your health and waist line, coinciding with the notion of you being force fed every cut of a cow, read on, the meal is actually trim and portioned just right.

The restaurant itself isn't the most exciting place, it's as large as a basketball court with rows upon rows of tables which can fit a small hungry army. You can opt to order an entire deep fried fish, which is also one of their specialties, or you can stick to their special program. Here's how the meal unfolds.

1) Salad. The first dish that shows up is the appetizer. It's a beef and shrimp salad. The beef is in strips and mixed with onion, chopped vegetables, lettuce, and more. This is a great way to start.

By this time, the waiter will bring some white round chips. These are actually wrap skins that you soak in water to soften, and you'll proceed to use them with entries 2-6.

2) Thin beef. Something like shabu shabu, this is thin sliced beef that you cook in boiling vinegar. The thin beef, along with your choice of veggies and herbs, make great small wraps. The folding technique is something like a burrito and the key is to not overstuff -- it'll break!

3) Grilled beef. Loaded with spices, oil, and sesame seeds, this one goes on the small table top grill. Are you fan of Korean food? This is the closest you'll get in this meal. It's delicious.

4) Meatballs. Vietnamese dishes like Bun (cold vermicelli noodles) often have tasty meatballs. These are just like those, but tastier.

5) Wrapped meat. (in photo it shares the same plate) This is ground beef wrapped in a flavorful leaf. Think Mediterranean food, and it's sort of in the ball park, but this isn't tart, it's savory.

6) Ground beef with shrimp cracker. This mix of beef, clear noodles, mushrooms, and spices make a perfect "beef spread" that you can easily scoop into the cracker. The leftovers can be wrapped, but at this point, you might be looking for something different. It's a nice dish towards the end of your meal since it's soft and much more mild.

7) The end of a lot of Asian meals might include some form of rice porridge. This dish features the least amount of beef. The meat is in tiny pieces in a beef broth, with rice, and English alphabet letters! Why are there letters in here?

The great part of this meal is that for the three of us, with drinks totaled around $40. What you save in food, may translate to fuel, but for the uninformed, this is a fun meal and a worthy adventure.

Thanks to Ian Nguyen for being a great host.

Caplio gx100

Someone explain this.



It looks like a Ricoh GR digital, probably smells like one, so... what's up with this?

deth p sun installs

Years ago, Deth P Sun came down, brought some buddies and took all night to install. There's been a few shows now, so it's nearly a blur, but there was beer, JD, and good times. I remember one morning after the install, I walked into GR2 and there was a beer can pyramid on the ground!



Now it's all pro, the install takes a few hours, and it's like clock work. Deth's not a kid anymore.

Frank Gehry Disney Concert Hall

Took a quick visit to the Walt Disney Concert Hall



The fourth photo is pretty neat. See where the light reflects harsh? That's actually part of the many thousands of metal pieces that make up the crazy building. Some of the neighbors complained that their homes were getting heated up during the daylight. So they had to sand them. But in that fourth photo, there's some panels that were left alone. Those are super glossy and even pilots complained about the reflection!

The fifth photo is of that fountain that's in the shape of a flower. If you look close it's all mosaic. It's amazing.

Harajuku in GRNY Printed Matter 2

Forgot. My print is in the GRNY print show 2. I guess like everyone else, I gotta promote my "ART" on my own blog site. Here it is. No photo this time, but I got a compliment on my print from Kelly Lynn Jones. It's my third (correction: FOURTH) time in an art show. Can anyone name the first?



I also forgot. Juxtapoz. The Thomas Campbell cover issue. I sat next to a Clonetrooper (Bret Banta) and had a sandwich at gr/eats. A huge photo spread, I think that's the biggest ever. Good photo Ben Clark.

Bossy Bear

When I see this little dude, I get a small laugh. Bossy Bear? Argh!



Bossy bossy bossy. This will be out soon. Toy2R, hurry your ass up! Glad I got mine.

deth p sun

I'm excited for the Deth P Sun show coming up this weekend at gr2. I got to interview Deth a while ago for GR, that was pretty cool. The best thing about this dude is that his style, is solidly his. He can spot it from 10 miles away. The ironic thing is that this post comes right after a D. Choe post. Anyone know what I'm saying here?

David Choe mural

David Choe paints a mural at Facebook. Amazing.



A new print with some painting on it by Choe. Who knows what the edition is, but a first round of queries of $250. It's a nice looking piece that's mixing the crazy line, city scape, and his well drawn females. Is the title any shout to Lost in Translation, the Kevin Shields City Girl song?



It's nice to hear this song no matter what. I'm sure it inspires great work and art all over the place.

Fruit cart 2 but no honeydew

Fruit carts... They're everywhere, and what can go wrong? Food poisoning from fruit? People are scared of the "roach coaches," but you can't be scared of these.





If you are, I'd say you're more afraid of the dude behind the cart, and even though they may not speak much English some of the time, they're so far cool. This dude had gold teeth and gave me a big ass smile for the "cinco" I bought.

Margaret Kilgallen

At the Hammer museum, the contemporary collection part 2 is up. There's a great Margaret Kilgallen piece(s) and next to it, Barry McGee. Raymond Pettibon is in there too, as is Jim Shaw. It's nice to see the work once in a while, you do miss it.

Jim Donutman Nakano is the Man

GR44 has an article about the Donutman. Today The Donutman brought a piece of Glendora to Sawtelle. If you get a chance, try the strawberry donut while it's in season. It's amazing. Farm fresh strawberries and his donuts are not joke.

That's Jim and a dozen of his standards.

Katie has no problem tackling the strawberry donuts. A little blurry, but it's an action shot. If you don't hurry, someone will eat it. Is she wearing argyle or are those just diamonds?


As David Lee Roth says, "all my flavors are guaranteed to satisfy..."

the finch

I'm still amazed at the zoom of this camera. When I walk by the finch no longer flies away. It sort of sits there wondering if I'm going to mess with the nest. If I get too close she will take off. Think there's eggs in that basket?



Where's the man? Haven't seen him lately. Maybe he's as vacant as us dudes can be some times.

journey... or not!

Tribute bands... journey





Check out the lead singer! He might as well be Steve Perry. Isn't the latter song in Last American Virgin? Do it for Gary.



this is the real guy.

flash with LEGO®

I just made this for fun. Found a broken 256 and made this. It wasn't as easy as I hoped.



1) I used a dremel and dug all kids of plastic out. That's easy, but hellish too. The plastic kept falling apart, since I used so many pieces.

2) The 256 is old, so it's big, that's why this thumb drive is huge.

3) I had to support the many pieces by adding more pieces. That sort of sucks, but I can do this better with a better thumb drive to start with. The length is actually the size of the thumb drive, the width is right too. But the height, that was necessary to hold this together.



4) I know what to do next time.

GRNY show Printed Matter 2

Jimmy, whoever you are. Thanks. Read up this long ass post about the GRNY show. Tons of pics, and the show looks good. Jimmy only makes fun of GR a little.

Cracked Seed stock at Safe N Save

Walking in the Safe N Save... the cracked seed wall rack was full. Jade brand is old school, but the Obachan's (grandmother) is pretty hot. It's the pink bags. They have the dried li-hing fruits, but they also had some spiced out gummies.


Li-Hing Sour Apple Melon... pretty good, basically, it's apple and melon gummies with the magical powder. It's human catnip. (why is the word nip in there? - that's jacked).

Also I put up the Andy Jenkins photos in transmissions.

Know1edge $ GR back!

Ran em down pretty far. Just got the real shipment of the hat. How can a hat be so interesting?

Fuses history, cultures, brands, as in a cap.

ANDY JENKINS tonite

The week long show begins tonite!

The show is tonite it's really for his new toy. Read up on Andy Jenkins here.

Illustrations on the wall.

Long Limb Lela - if she had 6 arms I'd think she was a spider.

Mr J taking some photos. Some of these drawings are over 10 years old!

I'm STRANDED

STRANDED: Manager of LA stores Michelle Borok. Payback for many injustices.
Needs ride back to LA from Alternative Press Expo. Can anyone give here a ride back down monday? or something?



Play this song, and think of Michelle.



Come to the GR booth at APE she's the girl with glasses.

shooter

Actually I lied, it wasn't the last word...

The school shooter guy... realize, he's a narcissistic child. It's one thing to shoot people because of mental illness, super anger, or getting bullied. It happened and it'll happen again. BUT it's another thing to do it and take photos and make videos. What does this mean to me? This kid wanted fame, he wanted to leave a mark, but instead of doing it through hard work, perseverance, and struggling, to make a "name" for himself, he was a loser who did nothing. His own roommates had no idea who he was. Some didn't know he could speak English. So to get back at the world for not giving him a break, a deal, or anything, he decided that he could earn fame, with three hours of "work." He supposedly started doing exercise a week or so earlier so he could look better in the photos. He probably took more time dealing with how he would look, over what the heck he was going to do to make himself famous. In the end, this guy just wanted a Myspace profile on steroids, and he got that, but it was all done with the least amount of work. Great work ethic, dude, you're the same guy who complains about everything and how you got nothing, while you do nothing to change anything, so the easy way became your way. Sounds like a rant, sorry.

p.s. we won our softball game. Had to get that out of the way. 16-15.

GR2

I got filmed talking about "toy" cameras. Lomos precisely. It's supposed to be a light news piece that'll go to 10 stations in 10 cities at some point. Sort of neat how these little stories are done for slow news days. What did I say? Maybe you can tell me if you ever see it. I don't think it's coming out in my town, but I do remember hearing Baltimore as one place.

If you want to know what Small Michelle looks like, she doesn't have to turn around.

Snotion! Down. Andy Jenkins for a week is next. I hope you come and check his works out. He's been doing Bend Press, skateboard "stuff", and much more for ages. Now... his toy.

Last thing I might say about the school shootings... The only thing I want to do is wait for the best facts possible. The videos and photos that the killer sent in are crazy. Imagine, this guy decided he was going to leave a mark on the world by committing a crime. He even left behind weird religious ramblings, and crazy photos that make him look like one of the most evil persons in the world. Will you forget this dude's poses with the guns? His face and his voice? This guy is a nut, and he carried out whatever he was setting out to do probably to his satisfaction. The news and the coverage gave him probably gave him exactly what he wanted. The fools who are getting interviewed are pathetic. They grieve and some act like they're experts, after the fact. Maybe this just needs to be over quicker.

On my way into sawtelle, here's another view of the business. Low cut jean skirts, a lot of orange outfits, and a Hawaiian shirt. This is pathetic.


A few more step down further (this is back), nice merchandising. I prefer by garbage bags in green, and really, shouldn't there be some shelf talkers? I also think there needs to some risers so tall people can really get a good whiff. Sorry, it's less about the homeless issues we face, but more about these business owners presentation.

Interview with Wayne Lo about school shootings.

I've interviewed Wayne Lo for Giant Robot, and these days, we're penpals. I once asked him a few questions about school shootings, and in light of today's event, I thought maybe, it would be a good time to have people read what he has to say about school shootings, to hopefully understand them just a little more.

On December 14, 1992 Wayne Lo killed 2 and injured 4 at Simon's Rock College. He's often forgotten about when school shooters are mentioned, and each event is just as tragic as any other. He's now serving a life sentence at MCI-Norfolk in Massachusetts.


What's your opinion on the recent school shooting wave?

My opinion? It sucks every time another one happens cause I know how much sadness and anguish the victims feel. I wouldn't call it a wave cause what is a wave? 2 in a day? 3 in a month? 4 in 2 months like recently? I believe there were 3 in 1992 when my incident happened. Any one incident is too much. We shouldn't forget about school shootings when it doesn't happen, and we shouldn't get overly worked up when a few happens in a row.

Why is it happening?

Well, 2 of the past 4 shootings were committed by non-school related individuals so I cannot speak about them at all. But of course, those committed by ex students, it's pretty simple. They felt wronged somehow and wish to exact revenge. I don't know if people copycat. Cause I doubt anyone commits a shooting merely to imitate another incident. There has to be some kind of underlying problem already.

Do you feel any responsibility for them?

Well, I guess it would be very conceited of me to think I have responsibility for any shootings that happened after my own. But I also wonder if anyone saw my case and decided they would do the same. Again, I have no idea if people copycat. But if someone came out and said, "I did it cause Wayne Lo did it," then it would be devastating to know cause I have inflicted enough pain as in my own case. Maybe I need to say people shouldn't do what I did? I don't know if that would help.

Do you think you understand what the shooters were / are going through?

Well, I can understand them in a very general way and that is they must be angry and depressed and they are obviously getting no help from their surroundings. I haven't heard of a shooting which wasn't planned out. So obviously there is a "cry for help" in the planning stages. If we can reach them during this period, then we can avoid tragedies.

It seems most are bent on killing themselves after they kill, did you want to do that?

I think or I have read that suicide and homocide are the same thing. Suicide is merely self-homocide. So you may ask why don't people just commit suicide rather than taking out innocent people as well. Well I guess people find it necessary to exact revenge before they end their own life? I have no idea really. I didn't feel suicidal. I did not wish to harm myself. I surrendered to the police after the shooting. I believe not all and not most of the shooters wished to kill themselves. I think when the police comes to the scene, it may make the killers make the suicidal choice. But that's only my speculation. Of course I would recommend you view the secret service study on school shootings available on the net. They may have more detailed info. Also, they went to interview all those who have committed school shootings including myself, so actually most school shooters are alive.

Is life that grim to be doing this?

Well, life isn't too grim for most people. But we've all been through school and we all know how horrible it must be to be an outcast in school. Especially when one is young and hasn't matured enough to deflect the harassment from classmates. Of course not all harassment is real. One may have personal, mental issues whch make them think they are being made fun of. I guess the bottom line isn't really about guns or metal detectors, it's about detecting the feelings of each individual student and that job falls on everyone- from parents to teachers to students.

ARTNight 4/14/07

Art Night. Plenty of art shows!



1 Clare Rojas at Lisbeth Oliveria
2 Luster at a group show at Angstrom
3 Albert Reyes at Show Cave
4 Scoops
5 Jill Bliss at Reform School
6 GRSL
7 BBQ Riblets at Britespot

Sawtelle - where we're at today

Tokyo Garment Outlet - nice sign eh?

So here's an update. That's Yamaguchi. Did you know we (GR) tried to buy this spot? It's a large spot, and even includes the lot behind it. I didn't really talk about this much, since it's private, but now, since it's what it is, I'll tell you a little about it.

This space was for sale. It was a high number. So high, we went hunting all over for funds. We were set to go. We even met the asking price and with my long time association with the area, and as a customer of the space since I was a child, I thought we had a good shot. Also the idea was to restore the space, make it better, and continue the legacy of what it is... A cornerstone for the street.

So that's a short version of our side of it. From what we understand, here's what happened. We met the price, but they got a bid a bit higher, we matched it, now we're over the asking price, then another bidder came with it too. It's cool to not win and get the space, but the main concerns...

Will the new tenant have a commitment to the area with the space? Does everyone want to see this turn into lofts or condos? Today it's a crapy store. People talk about it with disdain, and of course everyone is too polite to come out and write or say anything. The spot looks like a skeleton of it's old self, and it brings down the neighborhood a couple of steps. It's frankly embarrassing and again, it just shows what greed can do.

Will we ever see this dude in the NBA?

Kadour Ziani - come to America dude.

SOFTBALL

Giant Robot... softball is going to happen tonite. Game 1. what will happen? Am I ready, where am I going to play? - OK, so we won, 12-11. We played fine, the other team wasn't good, but sometimes, we play to the level of our opponents. Weird how that's how things go all the time, and that's not only in sports. That's why sometimes I like to stay up late and work on things by myself. How did I do? 1-1 (another hit to right field), 2 walks.

Fruit cart

$5 bag of fruit. Up the block near Santa Monica Blvd and Barry street, there's one of those Latino fruit carts. I think the photo doesn't give this justice, but inside is watermelon, pineapple, jicama, cucumber, cantelope, mango, and orange! At the end, they add lemon, salt, and chili! It's great, not too hot, and tasty.

In the background is the rapidly rising complex being built across the way. If you go to any market and look at the fruit section, the fresh cut stuff is expensive and for so little. For $5, this is kick ass deal. Get it without the spices at the end, if you're sketched out.

Brickwall Ring

The day has come. Brickwall Rings (as seen in GR47) are here, soon to be up on the GR site. I'll link it when it is. The rings in the photo are my samples. Silver gets it pretty quick. LEGO® pieces fit just right, and each pack contains some pieces for you to accessorize with. There's an instruction sheet in case you need to know something about it all, and they come in 2x2 or 1x2 all .925 silver.

Wayne Lo

Wayne Lo is amazing. Look at this embroidery all done by hand! Amazing. Would I wear this shirt?

BIRDS

So there's a nest above the air conditioner! Two birds, they're a couple for sure. They spend time making the nest, then they fly away when I walk outside, but they don't go too far. I can hear them chirping when I sit at my desk the air conditioner is right above my desk. We won't turn this one on.


I don't know what kind of birds they are. The one on the left has a red head! The one on the right doesn't. Is the red head the male? The one on the right looks plump!

The arrows show where the birds were in the first photo. It's amazing that you can make them out from such a tiny photo!

Above the AC is the nest. It started off bare and now it's a robust nest. My new friends, and backyard mates don't have to pay rent. I like them. What kind of birds are they?

Don Bolles

I got this email the other day, and was like whoa, what a raw deal this dude got. Don Bolles is the drummer for the Germs and Celebrity Skin. I did make a comment to some folks that he likes the young ladies...

------ X ------ X ------ X ------

This past Wednesday night Don Bolles suffered a bizarre and unfortunate interception with the Newport Police Department. He was stopped for a broken tail light. We believe his unconventional looks and old army green van made him the victim of police profiling in this very affluent, quiet town. They searched his van. The only thing they found was a bottle of Dr Bronner’s soap. If you are a good friend of Don’s, you know this is the only cleaning agent he uses for every thing from tooth paste to laundry detergent. The police ran a drug field test on the soap and it came up positive. Dr. Bronner’s is made with hemp seed oil. Maybe this is the reason behind the arresting officer’s error. I spoke with someone who is familiar with forensic drug tests. They said the field test is not absolutely accurate. There are two other drug tests that need to be conducted on the soap. Also, the drug they are ascertaining that Don is in possession of is unusable in a soap base. He is being charged with a felony. His bail is $25,000. He could get up to 20 years in prison. This is very serious. Through a bail bonds company it is 2,500 dollars. Currently we have roughly 1,000 dollars. He is now being held at the Orange County jail. This is not a safe place for Don. With all my heart I do believe Don is innocent. I talked to the Police yesterday at the holding facility. Their attitude was harsh. This is truly a horrible and sad incident. I spoke with Don a number of times. He is in utter disbelief that this is happening to him. We are asking friends if they could make a contribution of 10-20 dollars or more to help get him out of jail as soon as possible so he can seek legal assistance. Please make contributions to the paypal account below. Also, if anyone knows of a lawyer that can donate their services, please contact me as soon as possible. I spoke with criminal lawyers yesterday and their fees are unbelievably high. Please repost this on your bulletin if your network of friends can help.

------ X ------ X ------ X ------

So I got this thinking man, he needs help..

then today I get this:

------ X ------ X ------ X ------

According to OC jail and NBPD. Don posted bond yesterday. He's charged with:

1. Possession of a narcotic: GHB. Filed under HS Code (11377(a) -- possession of amphetamine without a prescription, but this is used to cover GHB possession.

2. Possession of a small amount of marijuana.

3. Criminal contempt of a court order.

4. Violation of a restraining order

------ X ------ X ------ X ------

So basically, you find out after feeling sorry for the guy, that he's the ultimate scum bag. Don, dude, what are you doing with GHB? Isn't that the Date Rape drug? It goes to show you, you have to wait, do research, and all that before you act on things. The same goes with everyday matters too. Hope whatever happens is fair.

Radio Flyer

It's hard to believe this business has a huge office, a factory, and all that... you know this has to be a made in China item, and really they only need 1 employee to deal with everything. So what goes on here? Do they really need a huge building? I imagine the job takes just a few people since in the end, there's nothing really exciting going on with Radio Flyer. It has to be the same mold, same parts, and same everything. But this is the headquarters, and I can't believe Radio Flyer isn't owned by Mattel and they have their own spot.

Radio Flyer is thee brand for carts... Is that what these are called? Can you think of another brand? Wasn't there a movie made