welshcrew.com/kevin

I hope our children will still get to grow older and wiser with you on the tele...so long Fred. There really was only one person like you in the whole world!

I Share My Birthday With...

Chelsea Clinton
Elizabeth Taylor
Ralph Nader
Ariel Sharon
John Steinbeck
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
David Sarnoff
Ralph Stanley
Adam Baldwin
Donal Logue
Josh Groban
...and many, many others.

So if Henry Wadsworth Longfellow were alive today (and had grown up in the ghetto) I think he might have said something like this to represent the Feb 27 birthday boys and girls:

Go, go, go,
Go, go, go shawty,
It's your birthday.
We're gon' party like,
It's your birthday.
We're gon' sip bacardi like,
It's your birthday.
And you know we don't give a fuck,
It's not your birthday.

I was just listening to 50 Cent - In Da Club

Dinner at Spring

This evening, my parents took me to Spring - a nice restaurant a few blocks away from my place on North Ave. This was my first time at Spring and I didn't know much about it. The only thing I did know is that it's considered one of Chicago's better restaurants and that it had a cool interior from the peeks I've had looking in from the street. Well I can now say with experience that the food is great and it does have a very cool interior.

First off, it has the largest zen garden I've ever seen - granted, the only zen gardens I have seen before are the boxes you can put on top of a table or desk. But in Spring, the zen garden is on the floor of the entrance and wraps around part of the opening room/bar.

The fact that Spring has a zen garden is a good clue to what kind of food they are serving. Our server explained that the food is Pan-Pacific with Mediterranean influences. Most of the items on the menu are seafood with some sort of asian and italian/mediterranean spin to it. It was a difficult decision because everything looked good but I think we did pretty well.

I had the Oysters on half shell with ginger and saki to start and the Maryland Fluke with risotto ravioli, shaved artichokes, sweet garlic sauce and truffle essence. Dad started with the Butternut Squash Soup with melted blue cheese and then had the Roasted Monkfish with parsley-garlic escargots, Japanese eggplant and smoked tomato bouillon. Mom started with the Butternut Squash Soup as well and then had the Hawaiian Monchong with braised hearts of palm, roasted shittakes and tandoori sauce. Finally, my brother had the Charred Beef Ribeye with braised short rib, pearl couscous and carmelized winter vegetables.

Only my brother and I were up for desert. He got the Chocolate Dome with caramel mousse and ginger foam and I had the Banana and Almond cake with caramelized pineapple, coconut ice cream and a blue wax birthday candle. Although the desert was great and the candle was a nice touch, I think Collin had it better...

The service was outstanding (our server was a well-studied actress who worked at the Goodman Theater recently) and the atmosphere/interior was very nice. All in all a great dining experience and I would recommend Spring to anybody (unless you don't care much for seafood). Adding to the already nice evening, my parents showered me with some great gifts and had the chef sign and personalize a menu for me.

This was a nice and slightly early birthday dinner. Because my dad is traveling this week and then my parents and brother are going to Seattle for a week, it had to be this evening. However, if you're going to eat seafood - and not on a Friday or Saturday - then Tuesdays are the best day to do it. Tuesdays are when the restaurants get all of their orders in straight off the boat!

I was just listening to The Flaming Lips - Fight Test

A shred of cool factor in the music industry.

It is a very tiny shred, but a shred nonetheless. I'm really happy that Norah Jones racked up those grammy awards. Not necessarily because I didn't think the other nominees didn't deserve to win (they didn't) but because Norah Jones did a record that's 1. good 2. fresh and 3. not all hype. So kudos to Norah Jones. As for the rest of the winners, I didn't really care too much. I didn't even watch the awards...had to say goodbye to Oz.

I was just listening to Norah Jones - Lonestar

Mary Ann, where art thou?

Good friends, good times.

I just had a whirlwind week/weekend with two of my good friends in town from Texas. Travis came up here to visit and see Chicago for the first time. Cliff was here on business and checking things out since he might be moving here. All in all we had a great time. We went to cool restaraunts, lounges, bars and one lame club. We went to go see the Phish show at the Allstate Arena! We saw a preview of the new revue at Second City with an extra hour set of improv and experimenting with new material. Travis saw all of the good sights downtown while I was in class. Thankfully there was 2-3 days of "nice weather" before we got the classic Chicago weather: a little bit of snow, 20-30mph wind and single digit wind chills. So I had my first out-of-towners come to visit me; they were definitely the guinea pigs for any future visitors I might have. I'm pretty sure they had a good time taking in Chicago. And I feel pretty good about that.

I was just listening to Les Claypool's Frog Brigade - Buzzards of Green Hill

About About Schmidt.

Tonight, Luke and I headed down to Piper's Alley to see a movie. We left it up to fate since we didn't know what the movie times were, but we knew that we would either be seeing The Pianist, The Hours, About Schmidt or The Quiet American. About Schmidt was starting in 10 minutes when we showed up...

During the winter season of critically acclaimed and Oscar buzzed films, I've been criticizing this year's crop because they all seemed too depressing. About Schmidt is depressing in a lot of ways, but for me to explain further would ruin the film for anyone else. The film's message, however, is quite inspiring: what has inspired you in your life and have you really made a difference?

Jack plays Warren Schmidt, a newly retired insurance executive in Omaha, Nebraska. His wife annoys the hell out of him and his only (child) daughter is about to marry a waterbed salesman, who is "about to" get rich off of the latest pyramid marketing scheme. And along the way, each character deals with grief and triumph much in the way we do. In fact, this is where the genius in the film really shines.

I kept feeling this film was about real people that I could easily relate to. Jack did an exceptional job in tricking me that I wasn't watching Jack on screen, but Warren. He could have been as much my father or grandfather as yours. And you know people like the characters in this film. If it did the film any justice, I might mention that I would actually buy this film over any reality television show I've seen thus far. Any bitter old man or woman would benefit from watching this movie. I really enjoyed it.

Luke and I had an incredible discussion after the movie, trying to think about our parents' intimacy and what really drives them in life: their children or their spouse? I know having children maybe one of the best ways you can make a difference in the world. But I think I may try a couple of different ways before I get to children...

Oh and I may need to make an update/amendment to my Oscar picks...Kathy Bates absolutely must get Best Supporting Actress. This is her role that you will NEVER forget! I'm afraid I am at a loss on the Best Actor since Jack and Bill The Butcher are competing...damn, they were both good.

I was just listening to Alpha Blondy - Jerusalem

Happy Anniversary!

Tomorrow is welshcrew.com/kevin's one month anniversary! I am sincerely appreciative of everyone who has been so supportive of my blog project. In honor of the anniversary, I want to introduce a couple of new features. I am posting two more projects I did last semester as well as some writing that I did and happen to be somewhat proud of.

The other feature isn't really a feature but an idea I admittedly stole from another blog I checked on the web (there are, actually, a lot of them out there). From now on, I will close each blog entry with the artist and song that I am listening to when I sign off. This should be a very interesting experiment because I tend to associate memories and periods of time in my life with the music I was listening to at the time.

For example, I associate the stop my family made in Memphis on our road trip in 1990 moving from Texas to Michigan, with Mark Cohn's Walking in Memphis. I always think of Rage Against The Machine's Fistfull of Steel when I remember the last day of school in the 9th grade. The Cure's Pictures of You (remix) always reminds me of my friends from Texas A&M. And I can never forget the first time I was introduced to Michael Jackson - a McDonald's hamburger had violated my 4 year old digestive system and the song I heard on the way home,Billie Jean, was stuck in my head while I was wretching in the front yard.

I consistently listen to music while I'm working on my computer. This is a reason why I am such an advocate for internet radio stations like Radio Paradise and somaFM/Groove Salad. Because internet radio playlists are so diverse, I expect that my song posts will be sometimes pretty random and obscure. Heck, most of the newer music I listen to is influenced by internet radio...what a great by-product of the information age!

So here it goes...

I was just listening to Supergrass - Brecon Beacons

Wild Ass Gone Wild

For my first project on the new PowerMac, I created a website for everyone who came (and for everyone who wishes they came) out to the party last weekend. Check it out.

My preciousssssssssss!

At the crack of noon on Saturday, I was woken by the FedEx dude dropping off my new PowerMac. After waiting very patiently over the years to throw down on a new computer, I finally took the plunge. So I wanted to document the experience the best way I could...on ye ol' blog!

Happy Valentine's Day

I'm still waiting on my valentine from Steve Jobs...FedEx tracking says it should be delivered today...

I am going to be sooo, like, pissed off if Steve doesn't come through.

Well to those who are celebrating today with their loved ones and/or significant others, enjoy this day and everyday like it's your last.

To those who are celebrating today by coming home from whatever they do during the day, drinking some beer and pondering if Daredevil is worth seeing, I say Daredevil is worth seeing.

To those who will be making sweet, sweet love to their soulmates, I say, "Hmmm, that's some sweet...sweet shuga!"

To those who will be having dirty sex tonight, I say simply, "word."

But to everyone, I want to wish you the best of St. Valentine's Days.

Oscar nom's

http://www.oscar.com/nominees/nomineelist.html

Normally, I am very opinionated about this topic. However, this year is different because 1. I have yet to see a lot of the nominated films and 2. I do not think this has been a great year for films as compared to previous years. It reminds me of the weak year in 1995 when The English Patient had all of the hype.

I will say that I hope Bowling for Columbine gets Best Documentary and the late Conrad Hall wins for Best Cinematography. Isn't it ironic that I recently watched both of those film's Academy screener DVDs?

I hope Bill the Butcher wins, but I'm not counting on it. And I want Walken to win, if for no better reason than to hear his acceptance speech.

Dude, Yer Gettin' a Frothy Binger

Does this look someone who smokes a lot of pot?

If your answer is "No, he looks like he smokes a lot of crack," then you're thinking the same thing I was...

...Until I read this evening that he was arrested for marijuana possession in NYC. I'm glad the authorities are going easy on the guy but I hope Dell takes this opportunity to fire his ass. A few months ago, I had an AOL/IM chat with the Dell Dude chat bot and we touched on an interesting subject:

Uhhzoomzip: so what are you planning to do with your new celebrity image?
DellDudeSteven: who knows, know what i'm sayin'?
Uhhzoomzip: yeah I know what you're sayin'
DellDudeSteven: yeah u know what i am sayin'? i dunno.
Uhhzoomzip: are you selling drugs to children now?
DellDudeSteven: am who selling drugs to children now?
Uhhzoomzip: yeah
DellDudeSteven: k
Uhhzoomzip: ok
DellDudeSteven: aha.
Uhhzoomzip: yup
DellDudeSteven: yea!
Uhhzoomzip: alright!
DellDudeSteven: yeah, all right!
Uhhzoomzip: how long were you in rehab?
DellDudeSteven: i don't know... how long was i in rehab?
Uhhzoomzip: i was thinking 3 years with 2 more to go
DellDudeSteven: were u really thinking 3 years with 2 more to go?
Uhhzoomzip: I bet they wouldn't let you have computer access
DellDudeSteven: yeah?
Uhhzoomzip: hey can I have your home address?
DellDudeSteven: what a weird question! who knows?
Uhhzoomzip: i still want to kick you in the shins
DellDudeSteven: 4 real?
Uhhzoomzip: 4 real man, dude
DellDudeSteven: interesting

The Last Day of Rest

Yesterday and today is the only time I will have had to recover from my Southern California vacation and the Wild Ass Party. Today, is the first day of the 2003 spring semester at Columbia College. But since "I don't do classes on Mondays," I've still got today to take it easy. I suppose I should look at my schedule to figure out which class I have and where I need to be. And I should go get my U-Pass for this semester, sign any paperwork with the financial office people, go buy my books and supplies, etc. etc. etc....here we go again.

How to Turn a Successful Evening Into a Living Nightmare.

So after our party shutdown around 3:00am, my roommate receives a call from a couple of girls who would like to meet for a drink. Derek and I are the only people left standing at our house, so we decide to go ahead on this little adventure. We meet the girls at Joe's and then head over to Nick's on Milwaukee Ave. (I guess we needed to be on a first name basis with our bars that night). We park, get out and go into Nick's for, as Derek and I had discussed earlier, one drink. The plan soon changed as Derek was offering me shots, etc. but I had to respectfully decline - I was getting pretty tired.

Around 4:00am, we decide to leave Nick's only to walk outside and see a tow truck about to take off with Derek's car. Derek runs out into the street to try to talk/reason with the tow'ers but they get into the tow truck and try to push Derek out of the way. Derek then stands on the running board of the truck and hangs onto the door so they can't close it, trying to deal with the pissed-off drivers. After starting to drive off with Derek hanging onto the truck a few times, they finally push him off and drive away.

Derek is now furious and ready to sue the City of Chicago until a cab driver who witnessed the entire incident explains to him that the city tows all cars on Milauwakee Ave. after 3:00am. The cab driver drove Derek, myself and the girls to the city impound, while explaining the history behind the towing laws which he was able to connect to "the machine" in power which rules Mayor Daley and the rest of Chicago. If one thing is certain, you can always count on cab drivers for an interesting perspective on the city.

The scene of the crime: Milwaukee Ave.

We show up to the city impound - a enourmous lot of cars near Humbolt Park, protected by chainlink and barbed-wire fences. A crude trailer house/shack served as the offices and waiting area for the impound. The line was long and only got longer as the night progressed. Derek made it to the front window after 30 minutes in line, only to find out that he wouldn't be able to pay the $160 towing fee with his credit card because the title of the car was not in his name. I asked the girls to get in line again while we got into a cab and hunted down an ATM machine. By the time we had gotten back, the girls were about halfway through the line, now populated by drunken thugs.

Information that would have been good to know before coming.

Sure enough, the drunken thugs start talking shit to everyone. "I'm going to shoot everyone in here so I can get my damn car out!" I was pretty sure this was all talk but definitely did not add to my enjoyment of the city impound now at 5:30am. But I did get worried when one of the thugs started harassing some of the girls in line which then provoked their boyfriends and caused the whole waiting room area to start yelling names, profanities and threats. One of the guards at the impound walked in and announced he was calling the police.

I am patiently enjoying every minute at the city impound.

10 minutes later, with the spat between the drunken thugs and girls still going on, two policemen come in and assess the situation. The drunken thugs are now apathetic saying "we just want to get out car out." A guy who is standing out of the line, sipping frozen Mountain Dew out of a can starts telling the police what has really been going and one of the drunken thugs calls him a "sonofabitch" or "motherfucker" or some other name - I don't remember and it's not important. But the otherwise calm and chilled out Guy-sipping-frozen-Mountain-Dew-out-of-a-can leaps at the drunken thug, throws him down to the ground and starts pounding on him - right in front of me and the police. The police break up the fight, arrest the now volitile Guy-sipping-frozen-Mountain-Dew-out-of-a-can and tell the drunken thugs they can get their car tomorrow. That didn't seem like justice to me or anyone else in the room, but we were just glad the drunken thugs were gone.

Drunken thugs and Chicago's finest in a scuffle.

Finally Derek makes it through the line again, jumps through the necessary hoops, fills out the proper receipts and gets his car back. The sun is coming up and we drop the girls off who thankfully did not live too far away. Derek and I stop to pick up breakfast at Arturo's and head back to our place. We find it difficult not to laugh hysterically about the ridiculousness of how our evening ended. With the sun rising into morning and my eyelids having a hard time staying open, I finally get in bed at 7:30am.

How To Throw a Successful Party.

Having learned the tools of the trade from the 2000-2001 Modenafest party series, I helped my roommates throw a humdinger of party at our place Saturday night. The success of our party was no accident - we followed a sound strategy designed to perfect the art of party throwing. So in the interest of successful house parties, I'm going to divulge all of the secrets here on the ol' blog.

1. Alcohol and lots of it. The only way to compete with bars and clubs, especially if you only live a few blocks away from them, is to serve up plenty of booze and beer. The flow of said liquids must not stop until you are ready for it to stop. Much like a conductor controls the symphony with a baton, you control the party with the booze. And if you're really good, you know how to end the night with more alcohol than you started with at no added expense.

2. The Guest List. This is crucial to the success of the party because you are essentially the mad scientist, creating a vibe in your house with everyone you have invited. Ask yourself what the failing point of any party you've been to is and I'm willing to bet it was too many men in attendance, creating the proverbial sausage fest. Too much testosterone is hard to deal with; it scares the women off and frustrates the men with too much competition. The secret sauce in this case is simple: invite more women than men. Chances are, it will even out anyway with boyfriends, friends, etc. If women at the party are asking you "What's with all of the women at this party," you're doing things right!

3. Ambience. Everyone wants to feel comfortable and be in a good mood at your party. You must use ambience, i.e. sights, sounds, smells and tastes, etc. to provide an environment where nobody wants to leave. The simple way to achieve this is using nothing more than candles and music. With modern technology, we're now able to create self-managing music playlists that can last the entire night without playing the same song twice. The mp3, if anything else, was meant for the house party. As an added touch, I like to have a visual component to the media exhibition - in this case it was the realisitic aquarium scene of my screensaver and the always impressive, Koyaanisqatsi on the DVD player. As the night progresses, people are always attracted to strange and interesting visuals.

4. Food. Again, you want to keep your guests as comfortable as possible and feeding them definitely rules out party-goers fleeing to the taqueria next door and then going home. The other benefit to serving food is that it helps to prevent beligerance; a stomach filled with food cannot hold as much alcohol. The important thing to remember is that the food must be good, distributed easily and does not make a mess. I made some killer guacamole which everyone seemed to like. Bowls of chips, salsa, pretzels and crackers were set out and reduced to crumbs by the end of the party. We also served baby pitas (bite-sized pita bread) with hummus which tasted great and were incredibly easy to serve. The interesting thing about our menu was that it accounted for vegetarians/vegans or anyone else who is specific about what they eat.

5. Facilities. Here is where we may luck out since our apartment is ideal for throwing a party. Obviously the more space you have, the more you have to work with. Having 3 bathrooms in our place turned out to be very important since my bathroom inevitably became a de-militarized zone, inhabited by alcohol poisoned victims. You need to have different areas and rooms each facilitating an activity. Upstairs living room/kitchen was the bar and the downstairs living room was the lounge. We directed a coat check in Derek's bedroom and I hosted a champagne room in my bedroom. The smokers were great about using the deck outside, braving the extreme cold to keep our house smoke-free. And there are always the quiet corners for the lovahs to escape to...

6. Promotion. Parties with a name/theme that people can remember is always a good thing. It not only helps people remember the party, it also creates a reputation for future gatherings - people will know what to expect and hopefully show up. I always like to do a web-based invite like this one. We did end up using those graphics I did for email reminders...

So that's it, the guide to successful house parties. Saturday night was a success and I hope everyone who came had a great time. Derek and Luke really came through on the preparations while I was in California last week. And I think my Modenafest co-ringleaders, Travis and Dan, would have been very proud of the party. Cheers!

I'm working at collecting all of the pictures taken at the party and hopefully I can get them all posted by the end of the week...

Straight A's!

My grades were waiting for me in a stack of mail on my desk when I got back. That's right kids, four point O.

I'm Home Mama.

Boot Camp was over in San Diego. I road home on the plane with a lot of guys sporting new cuts and over-starched Marine uniforms. The captain did make an announcement about their graduation and the whole plane gave them a round of applause. It was an interesting to see a mob of fathers, mothers and girlfriends at the Chicago airport waiting for their boys to get home...

I did not receive the same fanfare treatment, in fact my trip home was a tragedy of sorts. I left my Case Logic CD thingy on the plane. Thankfully I didn't have it filled to the brim, but it had some good discs in there. Damn. I did call the airline lost and found and had them file a report. So maybe it will turn up, maybe not. I have to say, this is a good reason to have an mp3 player.

So that's it, vacation over. I had a really relaxing week in Southern California and my hosts did nothing short of showing me a great time. Next week, school starts but in the meantime...I've got a party to get ready for.

One last thing about Tijuana...

This should have been the first thing I mentioned about Tijuana because it was the first thing we saw as we walked away from the US border. An old mangy (mangy is an understatement) dog was crossing a street, limping as if its right hind leg was broken. The oncoming traffic was stopped at a light, but once it turned green (and the dog wasn't quite to the other side of the road) cars throttled as fast as they could to try and hit the dog. I heard cackles and yells coming from the cars, but they all managed to miss the dog as it safely reached the other side of the street.

I was thankful the dog had made it, mainly because I did not want to have to witness the gruesome act or view the remains of the animal. But when I saw the dog go right back into the street, waiting for more traffic to come, it dawned on me that this dog was trying to get hit. I wasn't sure if I found this sad or funny - probably both. In retrospect, I think the dog's actions were entirely appropriate and I sincerely hope that dog has found peace in death.

TJ Hooker

Last night we made a run for the border into Tijuana, Mexico. The fellas gave me a security briefing before we got there but the experience from a first trip will teach you everything you need to know. For example:

1. Do not take your wallet, only ID, cash and (1) credit card if necessary
2. Do not let a bartender talk you into having a drink, especially the "upside down Margarita"
3. In fact, do not have a mixed drink - only have bottled drinks (beer). The water is poison.
4. Do not eat anything.
5. Thankfully, the word for "no" in Spanish is "no". You will be saying this a lot to people on the street.
6. Build up a tolerance to offensive smells quickly.
7. Watch your step when you are walking through town. Vomitus, fecal matter, etc. maybe the least of your worries.
8. Play it cool coming back through US Customs.

Basically, Tijuana represents all of the stereotypes we all think of we when think of Mexican border towns. Dirty, slummy, taco stands everywhere, cheap beer, cheaper women and service that would easily compete with any highly Zagat rated restaurant. A couple of things did surprise me about the border town. The number of "pharmacies" is astonishing. We went into one and negotiated a purchase of 100 Vicodin pills for $20. The other thing that caught my attention was how big the city of Tijuana is. Although it was night time, it appeared that lights stretched out into the distance as far as the horizon. I could only imagine what lied beyond the entertainment district we were roaming around in.

There are two establishments we visited that I should note before signing off. The first was called "Chicago Club" and the second "Adeioltas". These were bonefied Tijuana whorehouses. However, they do not appear to be an actual brothel when you first enter. To any newcomer, it would seem like a relatively nice club with a dance floor in the middle and an incredible ratio of women to men (meaning more women than men). Women, wearing clothes varying from nice dresses to questionable skank-wear, are just standing in various positions around the club. I quickly figured out they are hunters as much as the men are. Some are very attractive and others are...not. Their body language was blatant and predictable. As you walk through, women will shift positions so their rear sides are "putting out the vibe." They will catch eye contact, give a smile and then after a minute or two, move in for the kill. We did negotiate with one of them, but could not come to an agreement. I won't say who exactly the negotiations were for but I can tell you that it is a good feeling to have, not questioning whether or not your twig and berries are going to fall off or if you can ever kiss your mom with those lips again.

Last night was actually pretty quiet in TJ - not a lot of people there, especially Americans. This was actually a more intimidating environment for my first trip to Mexico as I felt the need to constantly watch my back. However, this trip was still a great experience and I'm thankful that now I don't have to do the border town thing again because, I've already done it and done it well with the fellas.

The Animatrix

www.theanimatrix.com

The first episode of The Animatrix series is online now. I'm about to watch the big quicktime movie right now, so I'll comment later. My appetite for The Matrix sequels is growing larger and larger everyday. I'm hoping these episodes will serve as delicious appetizers until the main course begins in May.

Chillin' like a villain on penicillin in PB

I like my vacations to be stress free. I definitely enjoy vacationing much more than traveling. Typically, I loathe the actual traveling process of any trip away from home. Thankfully the road travel in California has been very pleasant; driving out underneath the sun, the windows are down, cool breeze is blowing over your head and some great tunes are on the radio. It should be enough to make me forget about the cold weather which will be waiting my return, but it's not. Obviously it's on my mind since I just wrote about it in the last sentence. However, I am and will continue soaking it all up.

Today was another nice day in San Diego. Dan mysteriously fell ill which gave him some time away from the slave-driving Stratfor.com. You might think it would be easier to play hookey from work when you telecommute over 1,000 miles away, but it's not. In most cases, you feel even more guilty than you do when you do not feel like showing up at the office. To Dan's credit, he does need to ween his work associates off of his web developing teet, dripping at all times and ready to be suckled. When you work from the home, it becomes hard to separate a work life and a...home life.

The only tourist-y thing I did today was the Birch/Scripps Aquarium at UCSD. Dan and I paid a visit to the aquarium/museum which has a modest collection of sea creatures. I don't think one could handle walking through the aquarium exhibit on strong acid. The various anemones, tropical fish, jellies, seahorses, eels, sharks, starfish and crustaceans are trippy enough on their own. And standing in front of a 70,000 gallon aquarium tank is always interesting.

This evening after we finished our Kabaniss Pow Chicken dinner, we went and watched The Recruit. It wasn't bad, but not great. It reminded me of a Top Gun meets Swordfish sans Berlin and a gratuitous nudity shot of the leading actress, which Bridget Moynahan plays in this film. She's two for two portraying the love interest of a CIA agent in big budget actions films, at least in my book.

The ending of The Recruit does fall short of expectation as it struggles not to become a cliche` of spy movies. I do like watching these types of movies, since I know someone who works in the military intelligence and hope I will, one day, get to make a movie based on the experiences he may or may not have had. For anyone else, this may not be enough entertainment for the movie theater, but should definitely work out in the DVD player.

Tomorrow will probably include some relaxing beach time, cooking Italian food for my hosts and late-night debauchery in Tijuana, Mexico.

Dun-ah dun-ah, dun-ah dun-ah chishh chishh.

Sunday, we toured the more renowned areas of Los Angeles. First we drove out to Malibu to eat at Malibu Seafood on the PCH, just past Pepperdine. It was basically a shack on the side of the highway across from the ocean, with parking to the right and picnic tables to the left. Cort, Dave and Dan have some ties to the folks who worked here so they chatted for a while and casually put in our orders which was on the house. The line to order was getting long and there were several people waiting on their orders. This was obviously a popular place, at least among the locals.

As I'm waiting for my long-time friend, Jacob, to arrive from Santa Barbara, I noticed LeAnn Rimes and her hub had just ordered and picked a table adjacent to ours. And then a hungry motorcycle gang showed up. But as soon as Jacob (and the food) arrived, I was pre-occupied by conversation and my ahi tuna burger to continue observing Malibu Seafood's interesting clientele.

Oh by the way, the food at Malibu Seafood is incredible.

We said goodbye to Cort and Dave. Dan, Jacob and I got into Dan's car and headed up the PCH for Pepperdine. For those of you who are not familiar with Pepperdine or it's campus, it maybe better that you stay in the dark about this. Otherwise you become like me, filled with envy, awe and the resentment that you did not go (or presently do not go) to a school with such a gorgeous campus and location. But I got over that quickly while Dan actually walked into his old dorm room and interrupted the current residents studying. I guess the security on campus isn't too tight.

Sunset Blvd. is a long stretch of road off of the PCH, and we conquered the whole thing. Sunset takes you through the elite neighborhoods and streets we've all seen on television and film; Pacific Palisades, Bel Aire, Beverly Hills, Westwood, etc. And I'm curious how star map vendors are allowed to setup these signs around these neighborhoods and conduct business. I thought for sure the police would be keeping these neighborhood free of bums and peddlers.

We stopped at Amoeba Records, the greatest record store in the world. And it's just as enormous as the original store in San Francisco. We all picked up a few discs and continued on the road tour.

Dan took us over to Hollywood Blvd. (again), down Melrose (no, I didn't see "the place"). We went rollin' down Rodeo and made fun of the people on the sidewalks who's clothes obviously cost too much. And then we headed to Westwood/UCLA area.

I really liked the Westwood area, but of course who wouldn't? The Fox and Westwood movie theaters are here in addition to your normal collection of shops, restaurants, etc. We stopped inside Jerry's Deli for some beers. Jerry's is a pretty famous deli/diner, which obviously gets celebrity clientele and the occasional celebrity employee. Some old man at the bar was trying to make us look like fools with his brain teasers (he didn't succeed) and asked us if we enjoyed film and theater. I responded with a "yeah, sure" and he whispered, "Well Neil Simon is sitting right behind you." The old man got up and left, and then Dan noticed sitting in the booth next to Neil and his wife was the governor from O Brother Where Art Thou? Those would be the last of the celebrity sightings for the day.

We drove back to Malibu so Jacob could get his car and head back to Santa Barbara. Dan and I drove back to San Diego, leaving glorious Los Angeles behind us. Even though the entertainment industry becomes more industry than entertainment, and even though the wealth in the city is absurd, ridiculous and flagrant, and even though the traffic couldn't be anymore congested and crazy, and even though there is a definite "what can you for me" mentality, and even though it requires 30 minutes in the car to get anywhere...I like Los Angeles.

I'm Goin' to Hollywood

I spent this past weekend in Los Angeles, my first time to visit the city (except for that layover I had at LAX). I suppose this was an important trip for me since I should consider LA as a potential city for me in the future. So onto LA...

We setup base at Cort's sprawling 3/4 bedroom house which was close to the airport. Cort is a friend of Dan's from Pepperdine who is currently working as Michael Apted's personal assistant. Of course, we had several interesting discussions. Another member of the Pepperdine clan, Dave, drove up from Newport Beach to hang out with us. I had met Dave about 1.5 years ago with the rest of Dan's friends in San Francisco. Dave and Cort are both great guys and I enjoyed having them and Dan show me around the city.

We headed down to the most obvious of all LA attractions, Hollywood. The tell-tale signs of a tourist trap were blatant: $15 admission into the wax and other "historical" museums, t-shirt stores and more star-maps than there are celebrities. In front of their large building, the Scientology people were out in full force pushing L. Ron Hubbard's latest literary work and asking people to take their personality test. No takers here, thank you very much.

I did enjoy walking around The Kodak Theater, where the Academy Award ceremony will be next month. As you walk in, they have illuminated blocks on the pillars listing every Best Picture winner since the awards' inception through today, as well as nameless blocks through the year 2040. Yet the Kodak becomes a trap itself as a line of high end retail outlets have embedded themselves into the building. Hollywood and Highland, at some angles, looks like a shopping district.

The reason we were down there was to watch a movie at The Chinese Theater. Unfortunately, the offering was a steaming pile of shit known as Darkness Falls. Now, the Chinese Theater just isn't some stadium seating theater with decent seats with the smell of stale popcorn and a decent sound system. This theater can easily seat 1,000 people, has an incredible THX-certified sound system, and obviously does not dim their projector bulb as the enormous screen was bright and vivid. Cort told me about the premiere of Ali and when Michael Mann was not satisfied with the acoustics of the theater during a "screen check" earlier in the day, he ordered 60+ bed mattresses to be hung on the walls to reduce any "echoing" effect. I didn't notice any problems.

After the movie, we returned to Cort's house thinking of ways we could forget the 85 minutes we had lost on Darkness Falls. We settled on some conventional ailments and a selection from Cort's Academy Screener DVD's, Bowling for Columbine. This would be my second time to see it and I enjoyed it just as much. Then we headed back to West Hollywood/Los Angeles to Belly, a swank lounge where one of Cort's development colleagues was having a birthday party. I enjoyed the bar a lot, great crowd, decent music and the ever-so comfortable atmosphere that lounge bars provide. I like lounge bars...a lot.

After dining at Fatburger, we ended the late evening watching another Academy screener, Road to Perdition. Sipping on some clove-infused grain alcohol from Prague, I watched some beautiful cinematography by the late Conrad Hall. And that was the end of that evening.

Pac Beach in San Diego, CA

Since I've been in California, I've managed to thaw out from the frozen concrete tundra that is Chicago. I flew into San Diego on Friday morning and had to change out of my winter clothes at the airport. We hung out around Pacific Beach for the day and evening although we did head over to USD to watch Texas' opening baseball game. Pacific Beach seems like a nice place to be; nice apartments and condos, close to the beach, and a great selection of sushi bars.

Pacific Beach night life is another story. The main strip reminds me of Austin's 6th Street but if it were actually in College Station. The police patrol the street like they are looking for bank robbers, but they are just looking to prey on the drunk and stupid. I did hear that it's pretty typical for hardhead dudes to get into fights over women, get 86'ed from the bar they're at and get thrown in jail. Sounds like a cool place, huh? Let's just say that the best place we went to all night was a dive bar called "Thrusters." And no, this wasn't a gay bar. This bar seemed to have the fewest number of meatheads, cheap sluts and gritty surfers under it's roof. The drinks were cold and the people were nice...err tolerable. We didn't stay out too late for fear that we might become like them. Dan and Mike explained that they wanted to "get this part of the way." And now that it's out of the way, I can enjoy the rest of San Diego.