Eardrums music - Souther Salazar art.

Have you heard of these bands? I hear it's all Nordic Metal. They started off right with Souther Salazar's art for the cover. You can download the music for free via their website. Go check it all out. Oh and a bit of trivia, in the right hand corner of the art, there's that tiny little face. That's melted Ninja Turtle Ice cream. Maybe, but that's what happens when you fall asleep with ice cream.

Eardrumsmusic.com

Deadlines and Imprint culture lab

Sorry about the lull, we're still in magazine mode, but I will be speaking at the Imprint conference coming up on Wednesday. What's that  you ask? I've mentioned it perhaps for the last two years more than once and you probably forgot. Or conversely, maybe you recently heard about it for the first time. It's looking good, and a craft panel featuring Jill Bliss, the marketing dude from craft giants, Etsy, and a person from Bizarre Bazaar will be a fun panel. 

Imprintlab

Your Yard Blows 09/27/08

Don't Fence Me In. A lot of fencing for this yard. It's low and really, is to keep dogs out, or just to keep their yard, their own. It looks pleasant in a way, right? Like in a retro 50s style. Back to the Future? The cross cross looks louder than a white picket fence which would have been classic. It's still a lot of fencing, and I'm not sure if this is the way to go. You can hurdle the fence if you have hops. Grade: B-

This part bothers me. It's a long tunnel of fencing that actually makes your walk up filled with bugs, spider webs, and nice shade. It doesn't quite look right. Does it? Grade: D

The Champion of the block. This yard, is from the most expensive house in the area. There's those drought resistant plants again. I just saw them at Home Depot, and they're not expensive and look like they'll grow quick. I forgot what they're called, but they look like something you can dig up along the freeway. The little bushes around it on the right side look like tiny muffs. The trees sculpted...

This yard is a champion yard, and they spent arms and legs to make it that way, it's so good, I won't even show it to you, but the tree thing is interesting. It's coming out of plant that looks like a succulent. It's way taller than the house. Do you think this was supposed to happen? Think it was planned? How tall is this thing going to get? It's really tall and really not too thick. Some ass can run up to this and break it, that would be sad. Grade: A-

My Belly! This yard reminds me that people are people. We're just regular being and this one is just that. It's plants haphazardly set up. What tree is that on the right side? It's half dying and really look like crap. I can live with the bushes that are laying down on the sidewalk looking like a belly fat hanging over the belt. The other trees don't do much. Something about this little yard is confusing. It's sort of this, and that, in a tiny space. Grade: C-

Hacked! This tree behind the fence in the middle. It had the hopes of being a great one. A contender. A champ. Dirk Diggler from Boogie Nights! Maybe the tallest tree on the block! But no, it's chopped off. Totally castrated. That tree might think about those Viagra and Cialis commercials. Maybe it'll get it's groove back and one day... rise again. But for now, grade: D for the hacked tree. At least give it stump status.

Every Rose has a thorn, even it's among trash cans. This isn't really a yard, it's a side of a yard. Between the trash cans is a rose bush. I'm not a big fan of rose bushes or plants, but this one is odd. It's planted in the ground in a spot that looks like it's 1 foot x 1 foot. Talk about foot binding, this is an odd place for a plant that so many people love. Yes, it does give it the college try to be something, but it just can't. Grade: C- for trying.

Pygmy time. Imagine, every plant is only 3 feet tall. It doesn't matter what kind, as long as it's three feet tall. So the good thing is that they can see out their window, they can see from their porch, nothing is obscured by plants. They even rock the plant on the right into a ball on a stick! The tree to the left of that looks stunted and old. What's going on there, buddy? The rest looks alive, but this yard is in need of some love, something look all wrong here. Grade: C

Don King. He's the boxing promoter with the crazy hair. Know who I'm talking about? Look at the plants that divide the two yards! They must hate each other. I'm digging the harsh division of the homes, I want privacy too. If they were orange, I'd think it's a flame. Grade: B. This grade has nothing to do with their front yards. It's just about the division of property and how much of a story it tells.

Siamese twins. This is odd. Two houses next to each other with one type of bush and so flat too! The houses are totally different, but the bushes are the same. Why? There must be some kind of unity that these neighbors want to achieve. They even circle the fronts together as if they were a mirror. I remember this type of bush, it's typical and can be shaped well creating a powerful barrier. But is this what you'd want? Unity? You better be related to that neighbor since this is a conversation topic for anyone who comes over. Grade: B-



No Commitment. I wonder if this is planning. The plants and flowers are in planters. There's one that's stuck in the middle of the driveway. What purpose is this really serving? It makes it just that much harder to park your car in the drive way, but at the same time, it does say, "hey I got two garages, you only got one". Maybe it's just a little extra somethin' somethin' for the driveway. I'm not sure. Grade: B-

Jessie. I don't know how to spell her name exactly, but she's the girl from Jabberjaw, the punk rock club I frequented in the 90s. I see her walking around and she busted me taking pics of people's yards.

Have Blog, Will Travel!

Variety Japan picks up on the Domokun Target entry. I can't read it all, but at the time, I see many of the things I wrote about in there. I'm realizing, that I'm not just being mean, but there's a lot of agreement as to the quality of the product. It is some of the ugliest versions of Domokun and licensed goods in general that I've ever seen. Perhaps the folks think something like, "people haven't seen Domokun, so they won't know what's wrong." It's still more authenticity issues and the grabbing of the quick buck.

Imagine another case study. Uglydolls. Yes, he blogs here, so I'll only say nice stuff, right?! But imagine, each product is scrutinized, there's no Target Uglydolls, no K-Mart, or other mega chain blow outs. Who's going to last longer?

Some things might work blown out, but I never thought Domokun would be that character.

Variety Japan link.

Target Sightings

Extreme sports and icons. The big red head who's the new young symbol of extreme is now at Target! Buy pants, shirts, and other stuff that has nothing to do with skateboarding or snow boarding since it's at Target. I wonder if he designed any of it. Jeans are 29.99 which is a great price. But what happened to Dickies and Wrangler!? I think it's great to have affordable gear, but the way it's being done isn't the way I would do it.

This is an Ed Templeton ripoff. Not just 1 eye like the Templeton character, how about adding a shitload of eyes. It's not that it looks exactly like an Ed work, but it's definitely made to look like it's part of the Ed cannon of works. I'm sure a Target designer is saying... "no way, this looks nothing like Templeton! I know Ed, and this is nothing like it." Sorry, it's just like it. What would I do? How about smoothing out the lines, not having thin legs which are very Ed, maybe a different angle or posture, and less alien more creature.

Isaac! you too? Go back to bartending on the Love Boat.

Graffiti and spray cans. Authenticity issues at Target. 

There goes that Target ad.

Domo @ Target - In Killed Fashion - It's Over

Domokun died at Target. Hit by a bus and left for dead. Imagine, licensee. I got the Domokun license... Chaching! We're going to blow it out as fast as possible because our license will expire. It's as if we're going to make the Roger Corman Fantastic Four film! So Domokun, the NHK character is now at Target, and exploited just for the Halloween section. Take a look at what came out of this.

This is looking terrible. It doesn't even look like Domo. I wonder if this candy tastes like Cola. If it does, then just maybe it'll get a pass on candy alone. Look at the mouth. It's as if Domokun is foaming. It's eyes look like toasted sesame seeds.

Candy Corn? Domo eats candy corn? Tattoo that one on your chest. It's not a good thing at all.

Domo pinata. Bad. Bad. Bad. What happened to 3d? This is two pieces of cardboard, and crappy tissue paper sides. My fart would rip open.

Domokun on a broom? It's way over.

Have your own Domo mouth. This is a poor excuse for a product. It looks like someone sat on it. 

Domokun candy. More candy that looks like Domokun stood outside during a nuclear melt down. A mummy and Frankenstein done Domokun. Who designed this stuff?

A misshapen Domokun hangs from the ceiling with an eyepatch, just so you'd think he's a pirate. 

This was the only item I thought was cute. Bracelets of candy with Domokun. 

Someone out there will buy this and that someone will think that Domokun is pretty lame. They'll think that Target invented this character. It's also interesting how it's just Domo. Maybe it's because it's almost like the brands, people, and label: Lomo (camera), Homo (the great label), Tomo (a hotel in SF - yea I worked on that), Nomo (Baseball pitcher), and Romo (the QB of the Cowboys).

Avocado Thief 2

I heard a rustle and I heard some scratching sounds. I'm in the middle of deadlines, you know? Just doing my thing. I can hear it go on, and I don't want to get up. I'm in a groove. It keeps going, so it's time to see. Is it a gigantic Possum? I'm seen em and they make a lot of noise, but no, it's a Chinese lady and she's in a very far corner in my neighbor's yard, using a rake to steal MY avocados. She's probably 50 or 60, I don't know her name, but she doesn't live next door, in fact, she came by the other day, and I thought she was my neighbor's friend, but it turns out, she's just some random person trespassing very deep in my neighbor's yard. See the space between the wall and the fence? It's not large, and she was jammed up in there. So, the result. Harsh Chinese words spewed out by my g/f who tells her that you can't just bust into a back yard, you can't steal, you can't be there... all in Mandarin. If she asked, she would have received, but she chose to steal instead. The woman speaks Cantonese and keeps speaking in Cantonese, but she knows Mandarin and says she won't be back. I know the appeal of avocados, and I also know thieving and trespassing. My neighbor's had her bike stolen from her backyard once, and it's amazing how people feel comfortable to just go back there and take shit. I guess I need to make a Do Not Steal Avocados in Chinese now to add to the English, Japanese, and Spanish.

CSS! Lovefoxx

Lovefoxx. Luisa Matsushita is a cool kid. Lead singer, crazy, and has the eyes and ears of many. Watch her take it to the top. Live she's amazing. She has energy that can last for days. Is this the same person? Yes she is.

Css soundcheckin

Opening Masakatsu Sashie Under Fluorescent Light

First off, had to show you this. Yes, the GR2 store, and Giant Robot 1 immortalized in a Masakatsu Sashie painting - a great sized one at that. What you aren't seeing are the robot toys from a photo that he took in my room. The rest of the images include his model kits that remain unmade. A famicom, and the GR2 gumball machine, that's mostly cut off in the photo, but you can still make it out. Yes, of course it's mine. You can see the image below as well, between Martin, Wendy, and Eloise, who's got the druid gear on. This show's taken quite a lot of effort in the last week. The work's been done, but there's so much more than that, which goes into some shows. This is one of them. 

Rolan Bolan, Yuu, and Mr. Sashie

I'll post the images from the opening up on flickr quite soon. 

It's Masakatsu Sashie time

Yes, that's quite a large painting behind Masakatsu Sashie. I haven't seen a painting that large by a person at GR2 in a long time and it's great to see this one. It's an orb! It's filled with his memories and nostalgia and it's a separate world from the what's surrounding it. The ball looks alive.

This is a painted model kit of one of his works. It comes blank, so beware. Can you put it together and paint it? Will it be bling gold? I've heard some say that's what they're going to do.

Masakatsu Sashie at gR2 Tomorrow.

Do not fuck with Sashie. He knows weapons. I hope this wasn't a secret, but it's out of the bag. 9mm, no problem. See the red in the target? I see perfect shots. Now that you know,  you should come see his art show at GR2. Don't mess with my man. Guns aren't legal in Japan, so of course, this was something new for him. That's a lot of shells at his feet. He's an animal.

Makoto Aida

This guy is a rad artist. That's all I got to say. It's dope when you meet an artist and he has paint on his hands. He was standing there with tons of crap. I said what's up Makoto? He was stunned like he saw a ghost. Maybe he was stoned not stunned. If you get a chance take a look at his video work as well. He's getting to be a big deal on the international art stage. We parted ways quickly, and I'll bet he forgot me already.

Just check out this link of images and tons of it just on google.

Here's a youtube video.

Geisai 11 post dinner Hishinuma

That's me and the main man, Takashi Murakami outside of Hishinuma. It has the infamous Michelin rating of two stars. Not bad since not too many get stars period. Two stars means you're pretty good, and this place is decent. Yet it could have been better. I got there early. Not too early, but early enough. The head waiter, perhaps manager could have been cooler. He even ran as if 1) he had a turd in his pants - yes, I saw him run to the toilet 2) he also for some reason ran with one hand up almost like a raised hand. Maybe he had a turd in his hand instead. 3) Maybe it was because I wasn't wearing a suit that he didn't seem to give two shits about me, but in my life, I realize, that clothing means nothing. Look how Takashi's dressed! Even though that's probably a couture t-shirt with a inside print, and the shorts are probably high end with silk lining, the sneaks could be Visvim, a casual observer might think he spend $10 on it (and I kid you not, maybe he did). Takashi's the main man. Always has been. When you really don't need to care about what others think, then you're in great shape. He's probably there in that category, even though I'm sure he cares. He's an artist.

A special celebration with pop star Ken Chu (Zhu Xiaotian) and Takashi Murakami. Who let McCain in?

Tofu with uni and a tiny drop of wasabi. The tofu was handmade, with a texture that you'll never see unless you try this.

That's the menu. It's long in explanation, but simple in execution. This looks like a mouthful, but really, it's just a guide.

Sorry the pic on this went mad. Under the leaves is fish, some edamame, yuku with ikura, and some vegetables. 

That's my sake cup.

Can you say Matsutake? Matsutake is not a pitcher on a baseball team, but if you had to buy it,  you'd think he is.

Anago in a simple sauce with seaweed.

Yes, hand me the bags. It's how I like to go out. The food was decent, and I'm not sure what's really worthy of two stars in the Michelin guide, but this wasn't the normal meal. Of course Takashi hooks you up with the best he can, and this is a good call. I'd still pit my mom against the food here.

The foods of Nepal - Saultee Mode - Nepali

See the Riceballs? Imagine, it's not all rice, it's actually rice and potato. That red thing? Some pickled something. It was tart. This isn't really Nepali. It's some kind of hybrid, which exists even among the Nepali! The owner is a Nepali dude who looks interesting, and speaks with an accent. The tea tasted Turkish. It was sweet and nice. The food, great. Saultee Mode is a great place in Ebisu. 

That's the main dish. Chicken, rice, we poured the soup on the rice which is the way to go. there's pickled fish and vegetables.

Pakora! They're also from Nepal. The cool thing is that when you order food here, you hear chopping. It's because everything is made the second you order it. It's a tiny spot, and there's also a full bar, so there are regulars. It's weird seeing a guy come in wearing a suit sitting in front of a Nepali dude who's still learning English.

That's the inside. Simple and nice.

David Foster Wallace RIP

David Foster Wallace RIP
The writer hung himself in his home. I won't lie and say I read everything he's done but he'll be missed. Here's one article I'd suggest. There's another tennis essay short as well that's amazing. This one on Federer is worth reading as well, check it out and see what more you'd miss.

Tennis

LA Times

Down by the Riverside

What's going on here? Yes, these are homeless homes in Tokyo. It's not quite the same as in the US. There's a much smaller number in Japan, and although there's many clustered, they all have erected homes that are semi-permanent. In what can be an idyllic place that's a river among a network of freeways, it's just home for a small group of folks along the banks. It's a balance of feeling bad for them, but at the same time you realize, given a fat bag full of money, many wouldn't leave.

That's Sheldon Candis, we're here talking to one dude who has a lot of energy. When he smiles he can light up his dwelling. 

Gizmo! random sights in Aoyama again

Over The Stripes - Gizmo's Chillin'. Ok, none of you are going to get the reference. Who uses Gremlins as part of their decor? It's this shop. Underneath this show is the often talked about Loveless store, which is using the My Bloody Valentine's album title name as a high end clothing store.

What's it all mean? I have no idea. The shop is two flights of stairs straight down. You're in their dungeon. Don't believe what you read. Loveless isn't really much of those things, but they do defeat my vocabulary.

From this to the Bird's Nest. HdeM did a kick ass job,  you can't help but take pics of The Prada shop in Aoyama. Every time I go, I take a photo, even though I have many like it already. It's all about the texture. You just have to touch it, even though it's just hard plastic.

No, this isn't a Target pop up store, but imagine if it were. You can get the limited edition Martha Stewart couture shit, but instead, this is more Comme gear. Of course the magic "X" rears it's face here. Weird thing is that a lot of this looked like what their flagship was carrying, and only a block down.

As I posted above, this is more of it too. The magic X. Look at the names Louis Vuitton and Comme de Garcons. 

Next door, Fred Perry was celebrating their first year. This is a cool tiny shop. They even had some mod 7" records out. Matching music and wear, not for the first time.

Bape. A Bathing Ape is still around in Aoyama. More of the same. You have to wait in line to get in. The guy walking up says no, but I said yes. I should be more respectful of the public street and a public building. Yes you "can't" take photos of the shop from the outside! It's also interesting how they'll not let perhaps more than 10 people in at a time. The shop is huge, but this is how they stay special. The dude looks like he's holding a pooper scooper.

Shibuya the same

The bright lights, the video on the buildings, the throngs of people walking around, it keeps on going and going. As long as there are kids, a neighborhood like this will keep on going even as new ones pop up. It's not that cold here, and a tiny bit humid. It's actually a decent time to be here. See that HMV store? I went in there. See the Starbucks which is below the largest video screen? That's the busiest one in the world. It's like 6 streets or so, maybe more colliding in this insane intersection. It might be one of the craziest intersections in the world in terms of people walking through. 

Free hugs to a good home. Japan isn't a hug society. People don't give hugs often, and even with this many people with that many signs, most just walk on by.

I don't know what this dudeis doing but it's some type of performance. He makes weird movements, and says stuff in funny tones of voice. Otakus are everywhere.

No it wasn't me!

Walking around Daikanyama. There it was. Thanks somebody. It's weird to see this here, especially since I'm not a sticker tag guy. Thousands of miles away from our area, someone's looking out for us.

The Boss

I like how you can walk down the street in Tokyo and see Tommy Lee Jones in a Coffee billboard. The whole Boss coffee campaign is great. Tommy plays a regular guy, sort of like a Japanese guy. But he's the man behind Boss. Does that make any sense? TLJ always plays a boss type of character, but he's juxtaposed as a foreigner in Japan. He sometimes sheds tears in the commercials.

That's Nao with the special rice. I got some special rice too. Mine had crab. It's strange how a typical "food court" can be so good in Tokyo.


Fugu. I've never tried it and it's supposedly great. If I can it together, I may try it. It's cool how you can see the fugu when you're walking down the street. I guess the fish do all the advertising for this shop.

Your Yard Blows 09/09/08

Mini Garden Update: Your Lawn Blows. Atomic bomb cloud? That's a mini peach tree. It's looking strange being so constricted. This is something like foot binding. The hedge bush isn't pretty, it's almost non committal. Are you a hedge bush or aren't you? The strange tree on the left is strange, it's half domes, again more mushrooms. The rocks may have been a good start, but things went down after that. Sorry. Grade: D

I actually dig the landing strips on this lawn. Drink too much? Can't park the car straight? Use the landing strips to guide you. These are long strips up a driveway all planted with what looks like drought resistant succulents. Grade: B

Alient landing strip. If you follow this one, you'll wreck into the wall. The weird thing is that the two are actually neighbors. Competing landing strips can't be good. I'm not sure if a strip this tiny is a good thing. It's better than a big driveway that has nothing. Grade: B-

The White Planters. Around the corner from the first landing strip are the planters. Have these come back into style? Or are these cool? I'm noticing these more and more. These are huge white planters. They're actually quite powerful looking. Imagine have huge blocks of white. The plants that come out of it seem underwhelming. Maybe they need larger plants in front of it. Maybe they needed to be grey. There's a another landing strip type of piece in front of it. A lot of care was taken to make this yard. I'm not sure if the planters in white's the way to go. Grade: B-

Mini garden muff. This is like a muff just bumping out of a small spot. This is to separate the driveways. But that's not much of a driveway. It's another drought resistant plant. I'm into these actually, but this just isn't working. Grade: C+

Steppes of China. Maybe it's the shallow step up, the brick edges that separate the grass from the bit of flowers, but this reminds me of the hillside farming that goes on in China. Narrow grass, narrow everything. This isn't half bad actually for a space so tiny. Maybe this would have been cooler with drought resistant plants to go with the Spanish looking house. Maybe that's just too much. Grade: B

The Big Gate. The two columns side by side look like they're protecting a vault of gold. Does that door open or is it a draw bridge? Imagine if you were 4 inches tall in front of this door. Yeah, it's sort of like Dungeons and Dragons. The bad thing is that you can walk to the left or right of this in the gaps of the yard. I'll bet they thought these bushes would grow faster, but instead it's been sitting this way for a while. Wrong bushes? If I lived here, I'd never open this thing. Grade: D

The Corner. This has to be the most appealing corner in the world. If you're a dog. It's the right height, not for a human, but for a dog. It's tall enough where if you were lifting a leg, the person in the house couldn't see you. If this wall was 6 feet tall, drug deals would happen here. Graffiti would be all over this wall, but instead, rogue animals make deals here. Did you know dogs can communicate through pee? That little splash there is a break for freedom between neighborhood dogs about to go down. They usually get caught.

Japandulum

I'll be heading out to Japan for a bit. I'll try and throw up some updates. Tokyo here I come again. That's the Tokyo Tower. It's an amazing building that's just like the Eiffel.

I Luv Sushi

I swear this isn't going to be a blog all about food. It should be about a little of everything, but recently, when I'm not sure of what to write about, food always works. Look at that above. It's amazing. Spicy Tuna on top of grilled rice. It's awesome when a sushi place nails the spicy tuna. It's easy to over do it, it's also easy to make it too creamy, but this one was pretty spot on. A good mix of everything. The rice patty part works well under spicy tuna. I can't remember where I had it, but one place did it on top of crispy rice, almost like a rice cracker. Where was that, anyway? 

It looks like this when it shows up. I think it was better in the first photo, but I don't want to hide anything. The lettuce in the middle was honestly old and bad.

That's Mark, he eats everything, and drinks everything too. He's wearing the t-shirt of this hero in the Philippines. It's not Manny P.

Beef, seared and flavored. I'll be the first to admit, that it doesn't look good in the pic, but it tasted great.

The above roll looks normal, but it's not even on the menu. It's MONKEY ROLL. Of course there's no monkey meat in it, and it's actually shrimp tempura running through it, but the other item that's in it? It's BANANA! Shrimp tempura and banana together in a sushi roll. It's strange, and they knew to bring it last. 

I Luv Sushi - It's not just a cute title, it's the name of a place. It's Thai and they don't hide it making this one of those interesting hybrid businesses. A portrait of the king hangs on the wall. They fly the flag and they make interesting food.
3215 Carson Street. Lakewood. 90712 562-421-8917

Hut Dog! James Jean's and Wen's house

Hut Dog! The plush Wen is holding is a relic. Imagine, she was a customer at Giant Robot before there was a GR2, and many other things. This was about 6 or 7 years ago and we had a lo of Hut Dogs! The weird thing is that because this had a Japanese only name, we made up the name Hut Dog and it caught on. Huell Howser even took a fancy to the dog that has a house built on it's back. He said the word Hut Dog on an episode of his show.

That's James Jean on the left. There was a killer dinner party hosted by he and Wen. The food was amazing, many things were Wen's family recipes. I got a preview of many art pieces in progress. I could have eaten it all. Maybe. But for now, they have tons of left overs. Dinner parties... how often do you go to them, and how often do you host them? It's a ton of work and it seems like a dying and lost art. Small groups of people are the way to go. I think.

Bergamont Station Art

Christopher Murphy's paintings are pretty insane, look at the detail, the graf, the buildings. He's got the steady hand, the diligence, and more to make big works. I like that water tower on the right side. He also does rough drawings of people on the street. This dude is young, and I was joking around that from now until he dies, he'll use a wider and wider brush. The painting below is amazing as well. Check him out at the Lora Schlesinger Gallery which was open as part of the Bergamont Station


The outside looks like this. There's tables with drinks and some snacks. The crowd is 35+.



From wheat pasting to now in galleries with her art ranging from $800-$3000. David Choe and Becca had a short lived war on the streets. I think Dave won, but Becca held her own, and had the help of the locals in downtown.



Gary Taxali is part of the Blab! show as is Andy Kehoe below. The photos I took aren't the best, it's all from my iPhone. The entire Bergamont Station "thing" is cool. It happens once a month, and attracts a big crowd. Parking is now tough there, so get there early. It's free and great to see people having a blast checking out art.

Manna restaurant

Out of control is the only way to describe this place. $16.99 buys you anything they have to come to your table. Beef? ribs, chicken, pork, name it, and it'll come endlessly until you can't eat anymore. I suggest the ribs as being the best stuff there is, but the pork, which was actually sweet was quite great too. You couldn't stop eating it. You get the banchan which is okay/fair, the egg that comes in those black bowls below are actually really good, and you can't help but eat it, even though you're thinking, "this is filler!" 

The magic of this place is that they can handle huge groups. Make a reservation, and enjoy, this place is actually a lot of fun, and if you're with big eaters, then this is the spot. I ate a lot of beef. The chicken didn't impress, and the thin beef (I didn't know which this was) was just okay. Stick to the pork and the ribs.

It was cousin Mike's birthday dinner. His girl, Eugenia got a part on the Christian Slater TV show. Last question: does anyone know about Dream Cake? Heard of it? Is this a real cake? That's a dream cake. Is this something that extends world wide? Or is this a California thing? 

Manna Korean bbq
3377 W. Olympic blvd
LA 323 733 8516

Guava time!

Guess what? It's guava season. See the haul? What I do is walk down the street and around the corner, and look on the ground, there's guavas, down the street the other way, there's two more homes and the trees shed fruit that sprawls on the sidewalk. People walk on them, bikes ride on them, and birds pick at them. I scored today. You're seeing the product of three different front yard's fruit. I don't pick them from the trees at all, since that would be fucked up of me, but if they're on the ground, it's fair game. Notice how some have stripes and some are smooth. It's weird how some trees give up bigger fruit, some more round, and some look like tops. I'm sure it's probably the same breed of tree, but each acts differently. If you're into guavas, then this is the time to hunt some down. Eat just the middles! Some guavas are red in the middle, but these stay light. This one organization does some mapping of fruit trees. Fallenfruit.org

Cyclops

Cyclops chalkware banks. I found the dude cyclops at a flea market for $4. It's amazing, isn't it? That little patch of chest hair that's blue like his hair, the Barney Rubble Club, four toes... He's amazing by himself. But imagine, he has a woman! She came in the mail today and she's bigger than him! She's a bit rougher and holding a club. Could there be a little version, like a kid? Would that be gigantic? I like funny and weird items like this, but why would they make the female caveman larger than the man? Anyone think that all women were once Amazonian? Or were men tiny?

Soup - barley

Yes, I have a few skills. I actually made this soup from scratch. I don't really know what I'm doing and I didn't want to buy anything, since I had some medium old veggies in the fridge, perhaps about to go bad, but who knows some are irradiated, and might last forever. I have no exact clue as to what I used, I just chopped a lot of vegetables, and sauteed them until the onions carmelized, then I dumped it all into a gallon of water. Of course I added herbs like rosemary, and more onion, and salt, but really nothing too fancy. I reduced it to about half. I eyeballed all of the amounts, 4 or 5 carrots, 1 onion, 2 celery stalks, about 8 mushrooms... 

Look what you end up with. A lot of listless veggies, it's life all in the juice that's the veggie soup broth. The carrots actually were still decent, even though they cooked for a while, so I rescued them, but yes, you have a dump the rest. Really, it's old celery and onion, so it's cool.


I added the barley, which I forgot to mention was also made from scratch, that took hours of soaking and boiling. I chopped up potato, tomato, mushrooms, and added a can of beans. Yes I added beans from a can. I had some, so why not use it? I think in all this soup took nearly 6 hours + to make. The only thing I bought for it was carrot, and rest I happened to have. The tomato made a huge difference. I tried it without and after I added it, and it gave it a punch. I'm not sure if I'd do it again, but the broth has a naturally sweet flavor thanks to the carrot and onion. I've always wanted to make a soup and it turned out decent. Thanks for reading. This was my Martha Stewart moment, but we all know she can't cook.

Birds of a Feather

In Shanghai, there's a park where folks get together to buy, sell, and talk about birds. It's not all birds, but that's what's mostly there. It's all Chinese men talking, spitting, squatting, and having a leisurely day. I'm not sure who comes to buy birds, but maybe it's for the seed or feed. I also saw worms and what looked like fat beetles (maybe it was for some kind of Chinese medicine?), then a few had antiques. I walked through twice since it was so interesting. I didn't buy a bird, but if I wanted one, this was the place.





Go the theFlickr site and see the rest of the pics.

Kei Nishikori

Kei Nishikori reaches the fourth round. He's from Japan, is 18, and is ranked in the 120s. He'll surely vault higher. He's the first Japanese person in 40 years to get this far at the US Open. Why? In the past Japanese players didn't quite cut it. It's small country, not a lot of courts, and tennis is an individual sport taking up a lot of space. There's also their own game of soft tennis. What's that? It uses a softer ball, and who knows why it exists, but it's been around for a while. He's in the fourth round and we'll see if he can win his next match. He's horrible in interviews so you won't be seeing him on TV soon.


Here's a clip of Nishikori winning earlier in the year, he beats James Blake!


Watch this video about soft tennis, it's funny to watch some of these folks hit, some are good, but look funny.