Blagh

Whopper Virgins

Well, Whopper Virgins has been released.  Yup, it's as disgusting as it sounds.  What is even more disappointing is that this is a Stacey Peralta project.  I suggest you go check it out and then never ever eat at Burger King again, or even better, write them a letter stating your disgust and disappointment.  

http://www.whoppervirgins.com/

HMMMM

I absolutely must look into and view these films for reasons I can only tell you in person.

addddv

I want to have a neon black light party.

I don't change.  I've tried.  My eating habits.  My exercise habits.  Laziness.  Procrastination.  Being content with things I probably shouldn't be.  Doing just enough.  The part that gets to me, that really, really gets me is that I know better.  I know my life could be better if I were more proactive.  If I sought out my interests with more enthusiasm.  That I'd feel better if I was more picky about what I ate and in what quantity.  That I'd sleep better, feel better, think better and have more energy if I exercised on a regular basis.  That I'd be more motivated if I didn't drink so much.  I can see the relationships between all the small things that would improve my overall health and wellness but I can't seem to make them function all at the same time or for longer than a few weeks at a time.  

Now is the time of new years resolutions and I can honestly say that this is the first year that I'm actually scared to make one.  I feel like every time I make a resolution, weather it's for a new year or just a few pounds and I fail I feel it chip away at my character.  

I have much more to write on this subject as it has been weighing on me heavily for the past couple of years but I must get back to work.

BSG

I may be a little late on this but Battlestar Galactica is my newest, most favorite addiction.  I wasn't feeling too hot yesterday.  The second my eyes opened I decided, Yup.  I'm staying home today.  I turned on the heater and took my big ass duvet to the couch and plopped down for hours of entertainment.  My brother was nice enough to drop season 2 and 2.5 of BSG off on his way to work (thanks bro).  Let me preface this a little bit.  For the past couple of months my brother and I have fallen into a Sunday ritual.  It consists of few necessities, a hang over (though not a necessity but rather a usual occurrence on Sundays), a tall can or two or a bottle of wine, and BSG.  While I am a huge fan of marathon tv sessions when I'm sick, I feel I must say this about BSG.  Regardless of how amazing it is, watching it by myself I couldn't help but feel that something was missing.  Watching it alone just didn't measure up to the Sunday sessions I had gotten used to.  So John, we've got some catching up to do.  You make BSG what it is.

Mandeville Canyon Road Rage Case Moves Forward

"Dr. Thompson, the emergency room physician who stands accused of the Mandeville Canyon road rage incident that left two cyclists seriously injured, appeared in Los Angeles Superior Court yesterday for his preliminary hearing and it did not go well for him.

Ron Peterson, one of the two injured cyclists, testified to the July 4th incident in which he and Christian Stoehr were riding downhill in Mandeville Canyon, only to encounter the angry Thompson. Peterson claims that Thompson cut them off and then slammed on his brakes, causing both cyclists to hit the car with Stoehr careening through the air to the ground in front of the car and Peterson going through the back window, leaving his broken teeth mixed in with the broken glass in the back seat and cutting his face so severely that his nose was almost completely detached.

LAPD Officer Rodriguez, one of the first responding police officers at the scene, testified that immediately after the incident, Thompson explained that he had lived in Mandeville Canyon for years and that he was tired of the cyclists and that he slammed on the brakes "to teach them a lesson."

Detective Sharon Azpeitia testified on behalf of injured cyclist Christian Stoehr who is out of the country and on behalf of the physicians who treated the cyclists, introducing evidence of the "permanence of their injuries."

The preliminary hearing is the prosecutor's opportunity to convince the judge that a crime has been committed and that there is sufficient evidence to force the defendant to stand trial.

Defense Attorney Peter Swarth did his best to earn his fee, questioning Peterson on his tires and challenging him on his brakes and their ability to stop his bike. Swarth objected in broad strokes, asking that members of the cycling community in attendance be removed from the court on the off-chance that they might be called to testify in the future. The request was denied. He also went after Rodriguez, questioning his credentials and his contact with the defendants and with the press.

Swarth had an another tough obstacle to overcome when Patrick Watson, a cyclist who rides Mandeville Canyon, took the stand. Watson wasn't involved in the July 4th incident but he gave testimony to an incident that occurred in March of this year, when he and "Josh" were riding down Mandeville Canyon. Watson testified that a car came from behind, forced him off the road, and continued downhill. He maintained his balance, rode through the brush and back onto the road, only to be forced off again by the same motorist, this time actually laying down his bike.

"Josh" pursued the motorist, catching up with him and Watson rode to the front of the car and looked at the driver. The cyclists took the drivers license plate and called the police and reported the incident, giving the license plate and auto make/model and driver description to the police. Nothing came of the police report...until now. The prosecutor gave Watson the opportunity to identify the driver who ran him off the road in March and Watson identified Dr. Thompson.

Swarth went after Watson, challenging the identification as a presumption based on the identification of the car. Watson had identified Thompson's red Infiniti and vanity license plate info in the police report. Swarth asked how Watson can be sure that Thompson was driving. Watson responded "Because I stood in front of the car, looked right at him, and then had to jump out of the way as he accelerated his car at me and drove away."

Deputy District Attorney Mary Stone prevailed and the case will proceed forward with a January 15, 2009 arraignment at the same Airport Courthouse.

The charges against Dr. Thompson are: Count 1 - reckless driving causing specified injuries, Count 2 - Battery with serious bodily injury, Count 3 - reckless driving - misdemeanor.

The first two counts are the direct result of the July incident and the third count is a result of the March incident.

As in the past appearance at the same courthouse, Thompson's entourage did their best to shield him and to escort him quickly off the property at the conclusion of the hearing. A large man blocked the public from the elevator as the group raced to their vehicle, only to be stymied when they had to fumble to get the doors unlocked. Once they were safely behind the tinted windows they found themselves blocked by a motorist who wanted to see what the commotion was all about.

The Hollywood getaway, the suggestions of death threats and the positioning of motorists vs. cyclists all give the situation a soap-opera veneer and they might even be defense strategies but at the end of the day, this is simply a case of one man accused of using a weapon to injure and almost kill two other men."

Taken from the LAist

CB in Advertising

"A Charlie Brown Christmas" remixed as life in an ad agency.

2008 BFF

A video from the 2008 BFF Tokyo

Bicycle Film Festival TOKYO '08 PART 1 from Eli Tokyo Jitensha-Jin on Vimeo.

2008 BFF

This is a short by Bastien Lattanzio from the 2008 Bicycle Film Festival in Paris.

http://www.paranoid.fr/player,40

I am grateful

Lately I've been trying to be more aware of things I am grateful for.  I just sent a text out to some friends letting them know that I'm grateful for them.  These are they're responses (don't worry, none of my friends read this blog) and all I can say is that this is exactly why I'm grateful for them.  

These responses are so true to character I can't stand it.

Me:  I am grateful for your friendship.

Pat:  No doubt, mutual.

Steve:  Friends..how many of us have them...friends...one we can depend on...friends.

Brett:  Yours too!  You're the best :-) 

Justin:  Hahaha...you sure bout that?

Truman:  And I love you.

Britt:  Word.  Me too.  Let's buy each other burrito's in celebration of friendship.  Or, you can just bring me lamb.  You choose.

Jesse:  You're so homotextual.

I love my friends.

Things I eat and things I wear.

Today I ate half of a sausage for breakfast.  When I arrived at work I ate a banana and then I broke down and ate a doughnut and a half.  I also ran three miles and then came back to the office and ate a spinach, broccoli, onion, and cucumber salad.  

Since my run at 2 I have been wearing underpants.  Since my run I have not been comfortable.  

Wednesday run

This is the run I did today.  I picked up my training gear at Hawthorne and 2nd.  It's a multi day back pack that weighs around 15-18lbs.  So I ran a little over a mile with that on my back.  It felt good.  I feel good.  I think this might become a regular thing.  I do need to get some more baby wipes and stash them in my desk.  Maybe some cologne too.

Screen shot from mapmyrun.com

????

Wow, this is kinda hilarious/annoying/sorta neat/I'll probably never listen to or watch this again.

Jamil Kayin - Bikes from Jamill Kayin on Vimeo.

My life in Fiji

I don't think I've seen this video before.  This is what my life consisted of while I was in Fiji.  Everyday, up at 5am, work on the water until 6pm, work in the office until 8 or 9pm and then off to the Sakora House for some Fiji Bitter beer with the boys.  

This video must have been done a while ago because all the boys had gotten good and fat by the time I arrived.  I miss my Fiji.  Maybe I'll make it back someday.

This is my friend Petero, also a Rivers Fiji guide, talking about hunting wild boar. This is particularly pleasing for me to watch because when Petero talks he usually lies about some thing.  It's not that he's lying, it's that he's stretching his story.  He's very clever in how he does this.  He'll stretch it to the very limit of your belief, but as soon as he sees a question mark in your eye he'll jump back into the truth.  I particularly liked talking with Petero because I learned to watch his eyes and his mouth when he talked.  Whenever he'd start stretching a story he'd get this glimmer in his eye and the corners of his mouth would tense from trying not to smile.  He's a very sneaky guy.

Baka Yodellers

Desk dance

Today has been a day of desk dancing.  

I did a little experiment over the holiday weekend.  I weighed myself Wednesday morning and came in at a decent 191lbs.  Well, I weighed myself again on Tuesday night and I came in at an amazing 204lbs.  That's a butt load of wait for just a few days.  I did eat like, a 23 Tday meals though.  

So anyway, this week has been a week of getting my body back.  I've been running a minimum of 2 miles a night plus a mild body weight workout (for which I got teased by a group of 12 or so ladies last night at Kezar stadium....it hurts ladies, it really hurts).  Since Tuesday's 204 weigh in I have worked myself down to a 198 weigh in on Thursday morning.  I'm killing it.  

Because of this weeks health kick I have been sleeping way, way, way better than usual and waking up naturally around 7:30 a.m.-ish with loads of energy.  In my opinion this warrants desk dancing.  Thanks for listening.

The Bible According to Google Earth

This is a piece by Australia's The Glue Society in which they have taken images from Google Earth and altered them to look like specific scenes from the Bible. Pretty rad work.
Check it out here...http://www.creativereview.co.uk/crblog/the-bible-according-to-google-earth/

or here...

http://www.gluesociety.com/?#home/the-glue-society/the-work-content/art-content/gods-eye-view-content

For some reason it's taking forever to upload a couple pics so just go to their site and check them out.  Be sure to check out the TV work they've done too, particularly starflat.  Amazing.

LC

I really have nothing to say other than I hate last call. 1:30 is crap time for last call....really.

First Fridays

Josh Warren is a multi-disciplinary artist who lives and works in San Francisco. He received his BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1998 and his sense of humor from the east coast long before that.

Most recently he has been shown at the Candystore Collective, Cell Space, and Varnish Gallery in San Francisco, and at 707 Contemporary and Underground galleries in Santa Fe.

He likes finding washers on the street, dislikes when bands play straight covers, and is in all probability too sarcastic for his own good. He thinks fire hydrants are awesome and hilarious. He enjoys walking the line between creepy and funny, and gets teary-eyed at the drop of a hat. He's sensitive, but not a wuss.

According to Google, he may also be a paranormal researcher/ghost hunter and a Christian rapper.

Go figure.

Bouncy Balls:

Exploding Paint:

Play Dough Bunny Rabbits: 

Cause I'm so into hockey.

Yeah right.  But I am into friends doing well in life and in work.  This is my homie Jay Slacks ad.  I think it just aired for the first time this past Sunday.  Right on Jay.  Keep'em coming.  

Things I don't like...other than socks.

It really bothers me when the quantity of a food and it's caloric value don't match up.  For instance I just had a bowl of granola for breakfast.  This wasn't your regular granola, this was plank granola by Honest Foods.  It comes two planks per box.  Just looking at it I thought I should eat one whole plank, which, when broken up would have equaled a small to regular sized bowl of granola.  That is until I looked at the nutritional value.  250 calories for half a plank.  Are you kidding me?  Now let me give you some perspective on what half a plank looks like.  It's about four man bites and five or six lady bites.  250 calories for four lousy bites of granola?  If you ask me I say it's a fat set up.  You are being set up to get fat.  I don't need that.  Not now.  Not during the holidays.  Boo Honest Foods plank granola.