Never, ever, under any circumstances stay in Amarillo - even if you have business there. There are other options. The unpleasant nature of the people, which by far outnumber any that are decent human beings will sooner or later turn your stay into shit.
[Details to follow...]
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Local Character - Diana Ross
Not sure what his/her name is nor the back story - there's probably a good one, right? He/she definitely has some sort of Diana Ross image thing going and sashays through the Fairfax & Third intersection almost on a daily basis. Perhaps an actor looking to be discovered?Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Monday, July 09, 2007
Edgy LA
I'm irritated. Perhaps it is because today has seemed a bit irritating in general - nothing specific, nothing earth shaking - just general malaise about the state of the world at large. I was looking at some posts during work, hoping for a few minutes of informative distraction before I dove back under the paperwork and I came upon this at LAist.com Dear Laist: Building Facades? - It seemed like an interesting question to me and I was looking forward to finding out the answer, so I read on... only to read an attempt at cleverness that read like a flippant answer. Seeing that there were comments to the post I decided to have a look further lest I be mistaken and the question was indeed a disingenuous one - what I found was both rewarding commentary and idiotic drivel.
First the good. There was this comment which was very informative and provided excellent links to the answer for the architectural question... Also, there were some pretty good general comments of support in opposition to the idiocy.
First the good. There was this comment which was very informative and provided excellent links to the answer for the architectural question... Also, there were some pretty good general comments of support in opposition to the idiocy.
Now the irritating. I get to the end and find this vacuous bit of babble.
u dummies. antis answer was actually a cleverly written play on the in yr face, cheap pop-art influenced architecture that loren k asks about. living in LA is about having a killer attitude. its in the rawkstar faces and spicy corn and strong ass smoke. yr supposed to be a city full of assholes. if u wanna be "nice" go back to indiana.
[15] Posted by: guest | July 8, 2007 7:09 PM
Normally I would just mutter "idiot" under my breath and move on - but something about this in addition to the original post got me to thinking about verbalizing my thoughts.
There are those out there - not just in Los Angeles, every city has them - that are all so cozy in their smarmy smugness of savant pronouncements upon the truth. They know everything and are the final judges about what's hip. If they say something idiotic then they play it off as being contrarian - ducking for cover under the "on purpose idiot" defense. [Don't you get it?!? My stupidity was for the benefit of stimulating your thought! You're stupid for not getting it!] So what are the particulars in this case that irritated me?
There are those out there - not just in Los Angeles, every city has them - that are all so cozy in their smarmy smugness of savant pronouncements upon the truth. They know everything and are the final judges about what's hip. If they say something idiotic then they play it off as being contrarian - ducking for cover under the "on purpose idiot" defense. [Don't you get it?!? My stupidity was for the benefit of stimulating your thought! You're stupid for not getting it!] So what are the particulars in this case that irritated me?
- The lame, can't be bothered to write or spell English correctly "leading edge" formatting that says, "I'm one of the new wave! I'll catch you on the flip side with my Blackberry!" If one can't be bothered to formulate thoughts cogently about something, they should reconsider whether their thoughts are worth expressing in the first place.
- Not knowing what the hell they're talking about - the question is clearly not about something "pop-art influenced", but throwing "pop-art" without knowing what "pop-art" is/was will add hipster gravitas... It's just like name dropping at a party and equally as lame.
- The pronouncement of authority on what "LA" is - which reads to me like it was written by a rodent who got their cultural reference of Los Angeles from watching reality TV and other image marketing campaigns of what Los Angeles is supposed to be in order to market the image so they can sell a product or simply re-sell the image.
- The last fragment, "yr supposed to be a city full of assholes" is not inclusive of the poster, indicating that after all the bullshit, they do not consider themselves to be an Angeleno... and thus achieving closure of their circle of ignorance.
On the other hand, perhaps this post is all a well crafted ruse, explicitly designed to get someone like me thinking about Los Angeles and the ignorance exhibited about it as an actual place and it's actual inhabitants. Perhaps the ultimate goal in the long run is to make me question myself and realize that I know some, but not all there is to know, because Los Angeles is many things on many levels - simultaneously.
Friday, July 06, 2007
After Midnight Walkies
One gets to see all sorts of interesting things when going for walkies after midnight. We prefer the after-midnight - the temperature is cooler, it's quieter, the air seems fresher and the occasional person encountered from afar is generally more interesting.
Tonight, for example - four houses north, on the other side of the street. I head out the door with Hazel and there are headlights, stationary. It's about 00:30. The car makes it's way past us and turns onto the main street... As we walk past the spot we hear some talking. At the head of the driveway across from us is a girl (woman?) crumpled on the concrete and she's just puked - there's a puddle glistening in the moonlight beneath her chin. What appears to be her mother is saying, "Don't worry about it and come inside. I don't want you to get your hands in it." The crumpled person mumbles something about being sorry and then retches again. Hazel just stands and stares - she's annoyed at the unseemliness of the spectacle. From the silhouettes we assume that this is either either a teen aged daughter or one of college age - she's wearing a sweatshirt and jeans... Out of school on summer break and perhaps catching up with some chums... who drop her off on the curb in a debased state of drunkenness. I think to say something just to reassure Hazel, who is standing still and staring - ears pricked up, eyebrows switching back and forth in an up and down fashion - bewildered by the behaviour - but I don't... Best not embarrass the neighbours more than need be (I've never talked to them, nor have I, if seldom, ever actually seen them) - what if it's a medical condition and she was out for a wholesome, stimulating game of Scrabble? Perhaps she's just had an epileptic fit?... We walk off into the night. There's a cat somewhere down the street that needs motivation to move off the sidewalk.
Some months ago, again with Hazel, we rounded the corner from our block onto a slightly larger street. A newly refurbished apartment building is across - just done up in anticipation of higher rental rates during this time of shortage in suitable living space. Just having done a bit of sniffing, we are both startled by the call of "JOHNNY! Johnny, I RUV YOU!" Indeed, a woman is in the street and shouting this. Is it inebriation? Is it the dementia of love sickness? Who knows - but our pleasant walk has been disturbed by screams for Johnny... Who the hell is this Johnny? Why, if indeed he is home does he not be a responsible citizen and come out and face this woman and spare the rest of his neighbours the sounds of her shrieks? Loud shrieks followed by what appears to be Korean mumbling... The only intelligible parts being, "JOHNNY! Johnny, I RUV YOU!"... A woman scorned and insulted is not a pleasant thing after midnight. On our way back we notice that there's now a man leaning against a car trying to calm the woman. He wears a very nice suit and is well manicured - something reminiscent of a John Woo film. He is clearly not Johnny as the woman still looks up periodically and screams for Johnny. Hazel looks across the street and then back at me - all I can do is shrug my shoulders and whisper to her, "crazy people". We round the corner, back to the peace of our own block.
Klaus is much more preoccupied with his sniffing duties - nose to the ground, cataloging what might have traversed through the neighbourhood. When we come upon strangers wandering the night, he gives them the EYE... Stares over his shoulder at them till he is assured that they are walking away. Then, with ease and nonchalance, he turns back to what he was previously doing and I can almost hear him say, "I thought not. Punk ass bitch..."
All in all, things are pretty quiet at night and it's calm. Being in a neighbourhood where there are lot of neighbours with dogs, who like to walk them, as we've found out while walking during the day - we do not much appreciate being barked at by other's dogs, especially when we are minding our own business. Generally the behaviour of others is undignified.
Tonight, for example - four houses north, on the other side of the street. I head out the door with Hazel and there are headlights, stationary. It's about 00:30. The car makes it's way past us and turns onto the main street... As we walk past the spot we hear some talking. At the head of the driveway across from us is a girl (woman?) crumpled on the concrete and she's just puked - there's a puddle glistening in the moonlight beneath her chin. What appears to be her mother is saying, "Don't worry about it and come inside. I don't want you to get your hands in it." The crumpled person mumbles something about being sorry and then retches again. Hazel just stands and stares - she's annoyed at the unseemliness of the spectacle. From the silhouettes we assume that this is either either a teen aged daughter or one of college age - she's wearing a sweatshirt and jeans... Out of school on summer break and perhaps catching up with some chums... who drop her off on the curb in a debased state of drunkenness. I think to say something just to reassure Hazel, who is standing still and staring - ears pricked up, eyebrows switching back and forth in an up and down fashion - bewildered by the behaviour - but I don't... Best not embarrass the neighbours more than need be (I've never talked to them, nor have I, if seldom, ever actually seen them) - what if it's a medical condition and she was out for a wholesome, stimulating game of Scrabble? Perhaps she's just had an epileptic fit?... We walk off into the night. There's a cat somewhere down the street that needs motivation to move off the sidewalk.
Some months ago, again with Hazel, we rounded the corner from our block onto a slightly larger street. A newly refurbished apartment building is across - just done up in anticipation of higher rental rates during this time of shortage in suitable living space. Just having done a bit of sniffing, we are both startled by the call of "JOHNNY! Johnny, I RUV YOU!" Indeed, a woman is in the street and shouting this. Is it inebriation? Is it the dementia of love sickness? Who knows - but our pleasant walk has been disturbed by screams for Johnny... Who the hell is this Johnny? Why, if indeed he is home does he not be a responsible citizen and come out and face this woman and spare the rest of his neighbours the sounds of her shrieks? Loud shrieks followed by what appears to be Korean mumbling... The only intelligible parts being, "JOHNNY! Johnny, I RUV YOU!"... A woman scorned and insulted is not a pleasant thing after midnight. On our way back we notice that there's now a man leaning against a car trying to calm the woman. He wears a very nice suit and is well manicured - something reminiscent of a John Woo film. He is clearly not Johnny as the woman still looks up periodically and screams for Johnny. Hazel looks across the street and then back at me - all I can do is shrug my shoulders and whisper to her, "crazy people". We round the corner, back to the peace of our own block.
Klaus is much more preoccupied with his sniffing duties - nose to the ground, cataloging what might have traversed through the neighbourhood. When we come upon strangers wandering the night, he gives them the EYE... Stares over his shoulder at them till he is assured that they are walking away. Then, with ease and nonchalance, he turns back to what he was previously doing and I can almost hear him say, "I thought not. Punk ass bitch..."
All in all, things are pretty quiet at night and it's calm. Being in a neighbourhood where there are lot of neighbours with dogs, who like to walk them, as we've found out while walking during the day - we do not much appreciate being barked at by other's dogs, especially when we are minding our own business. Generally the behaviour of others is undignified.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
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